Frontier Kantianism: Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith
Ralph Waldo Emerson is often seen as the early American prophet of autonomy. This essay suggests a perhaps surprising fellow traveler in this prophetic call: Joseph Smith. Smith opposed religious creeds for the same reason that Emerson denounced them, namely that creeds represent a threat to the aut...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of religious ethics |
|---|---|
| 1. VerfasserIn: | |
| Medienart: | Elektronisch Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Verfügbarkeit prüfen: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Lade...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
|
| In: |
Journal of religious ethics
Jahr: 2018, Band: 46, Heft: 2, Seiten: 332-359 |
| weitere Schlagwörter: | B
Authority
B Ralph Waldo Emerson B Immanuel Kant B Autonomy B Joseph Smith |
| Online Zugang: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Zusammenfassung: | Ralph Waldo Emerson is often seen as the early American prophet of autonomy. This essay suggests a perhaps surprising fellow traveler in this prophetic call: Joseph Smith. Smith opposed religious creeds for the same reason that Emerson denounced them, namely that creeds represent a threat to the autonomy of a person's beliefs. Smith and Emerson also forward similar defenses of individual autonomy in action. Furthermore, they encounter a shared problem: how can autonomy be possible in a society where other individuals hold some kind of authority? I propose that each thinker resolves this tension through an insight with a Kantian echo. A suitably qualified version of authority can sometimes count as an expression of, rather than hindrance to, autonomy. I describe the overlap in Emerson and Smith as a frontier version of Kantianism. They favor determining one's own beliefs and actions in a way that looks forward to an open future of possibility. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1467-9795 |
| Enthält: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jore.12220 |