Outside #2
Throughout
PHIL 451 we have been discussing the ability of narrative to relate truths. In
another class we have been studying Immanuel Kant’s “Religion Within the Limits
of Reason Alone,” and I believe that there may be a parallel that can be drawn
between Lewis’ philosophy of myth and Kant’s moral philosophy. The reason that
I say this is that Kant paints the picture of a fully rational, universal “church”
towards which our kind is moving. It is fully idealized and may be impossible
to actually accomplish, but Kant posits a “church” that encompasses
civilization and entails that all people are fully in tune with the moral law
and understand and respect their duty to it. This universal “church” is not
dogmatic or historical in any way, and exhorts people to do what is right
simply because it is right, and not because their religion demands they do it
to avoid hell or for any other reason.
The
parallel here might be fairly obvious. This universal “church” that Kant
describes does not actually exist, and may never exist. That means that his
description of it is a story. It’s a myth. And in his narration of this myth,
he is attempting to tell us something that he views as objectively true. There
is an inherent “ought-ness” to his story of this church—we ought to strive
towards this ideal. If we are fulfilling our moral duties, we ought to see this
kind of church arise. The truth about this moral obligation is conveyed not
through a matter-of-fact statement about it, but through a vivid depiction of
what it would look like if realized in our world.
To me,
this seems to come off as a different style of myth, but nonetheless an
instructive truth conveyed through a narrative. Kant may have never intended
this or even known it to be possible as he composed this illustration, but I
think that he has provided us with a strong example of what it looks like to
transmit truth through a story that is itself untrue.
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