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...
| Publié dans: | Journal of religious ethics |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| Dans: |
Journal of religious ethics
Année: 2018, Volume: 46, Numéro: 2, Pages: 332-359 |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Authority
B Ralph Waldo Emerson B Immanuel Kant B Autonomy B Joseph Smith |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Résumé: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9795 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/jore.12220 |