Self-knowledge as religious experience. On an aspect of Kant's conception of the vocation of human beings

Abstract

In this paper, I will deal with an aspect of Kant's conception of our vocation (Bestimmung). I will argue that the way Kant conceives of our "higher" vocation, namely in terms of a vocation to moral self-legislation, allows for a religious experience of ourselves and in ourselves. In understanding herself in relation to the holiness of her pure will, a person might have a religious experience of herself, conceiving of her duties as divine commands, whilst also in a sense experiencing God in herself - in her personality.