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Mysticism without the Mustikos? Some Reflections on Stephen Palmquist’s Mystical Kant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2020

Swami Medhananda (Ayon Maharaj)
Swami Medhananda (Ayon Maharaj)*
Affiliation:
Program in Philosophy, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, West Bengal, India
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

This article critically examines some of the main arguments of Stephen Palmquist’s Kant and Mysticism. While I agree with Palmquist that Kant admits the possibility of certain indirect forms of mystical experience, I argue that Palmquist makes Kant out to be more of a mystic than he actually was. In particular, I contend that Palmquist fails to provide convincing justification of two of his main claims: (1) that Kant was a mystic or at least had strong mystical tendencies and (2) that some of the experiences that are central to Kant’s philosophy are best understood as mystical experiences.

Keywords

KantStephen PalmquistEmanuel Swedenborgmysticismmystical experienceconscience
Type
Author Meets Critic
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 105 - 111
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

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References

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