Kant has been called the philosopher of Protestantism. I think he is. Kant has also been called the father of (modern) rationalism. I think he is not. He is a mystic. It was Kant who wrote that he had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith.
The turning point which marks the relative decline of Portugal (and Spain) in modern history occurred during the mid-eighteenth century. It was the result of a defeat in the battle for ideas. In Portugal this defeat was consummated when Marquis de Pombal, reforming the University of Coimbra, replaced the staunchest defenders of Catholic culture - the Jesuits - by the agents of the enemy.
The influence of German authors in the reformed programs and methods of study at Coimbra, specially in Law and Theology, is by now well documented. The year the law which reformed the university was promulgated (1772) Kant was 50 years old and would soon attain worldwide reputation. From then on, Kant and other German intellectuals would be immensely influent in shaping the minds of the young Portuguese studying at Coimbra.
Coimbra was then and would remain for a long time, the sole university existing in the country. When the universities of Lisbon and Oporto were founded in the early twentieth century they were modeled after Coimbra. Thus in Coimbra were formed the people who were set to become the intellectual and political leaders of the country.
Protestant culture never took roots among the Portuguese population which, despite the Reformation, remained staunchly Catholic. However, the leaders of Portuguese society were now educated mainly in the values and culture of Protestantism. This set a divorce between the population and its leaders with catastrophic consequences which remains to this day, Salazar's Estado Novo regime being the only interregnum.
In the course of the next few days I will attempt to show how the key ideas of Kant, the most representative philosopher of German Illuminism, amount to a secular theology of Protestant society; how his ideas are directed at undermining Catholic doctrine and Catholic societies; how unlikely it is a profoundly Catholic people like the Portuguese will ever adopt Kant's ideas, in part because they rest much more on faith than on reason. My whole point is to show that Kant is the greatest modern intellectual enemy of our own Portuguese culture, and that he is no Thomas Aquinas - specially that he is no Thomas Aquinas, the philosopher of Catholicism.
The turning point which marks the relative decline of Portugal (and Spain) in modern history occurred during the mid-eighteenth century. It was the result of a defeat in the battle for ideas. In Portugal this defeat was consummated when Marquis de Pombal, reforming the University of Coimbra, replaced the staunchest defenders of Catholic culture - the Jesuits - by the agents of the enemy.
The influence of German authors in the reformed programs and methods of study at Coimbra, specially in Law and Theology, is by now well documented. The year the law which reformed the university was promulgated (1772) Kant was 50 years old and would soon attain worldwide reputation. From then on, Kant and other German intellectuals would be immensely influent in shaping the minds of the young Portuguese studying at Coimbra.
Coimbra was then and would remain for a long time, the sole university existing in the country. When the universities of Lisbon and Oporto were founded in the early twentieth century they were modeled after Coimbra. Thus in Coimbra were formed the people who were set to become the intellectual and political leaders of the country.
Protestant culture never took roots among the Portuguese population which, despite the Reformation, remained staunchly Catholic. However, the leaders of Portuguese society were now educated mainly in the values and culture of Protestantism. This set a divorce between the population and its leaders with catastrophic consequences which remains to this day, Salazar's Estado Novo regime being the only interregnum.
In the course of the next few days I will attempt to show how the key ideas of Kant, the most representative philosopher of German Illuminism, amount to a secular theology of Protestant society; how his ideas are directed at undermining Catholic doctrine and Catholic societies; how unlikely it is a profoundly Catholic people like the Portuguese will ever adopt Kant's ideas, in part because they rest much more on faith than on reason. My whole point is to show that Kant is the greatest modern intellectual enemy of our own Portuguese culture, and that he is no Thomas Aquinas - specially that he is no Thomas Aquinas, the philosopher of Catholicism.
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