The problem of theodicy is about the issue of the justification of God in face of the bad in the world. According to Kant's moral theology God is to be conceived in three roles: As holy creator, benevolent governer and just judge of the world. Therefore his holiness, benevolence and justice can be called into question and therefore there also is a need for a threefold justification.

Quote: 0:08

The problem of theodicy: 1:01

Kant's contribution to the theodicy: 5:27

Why did a holy God create evil?: 20:48

One doesn't become an atheist because of the problem of theodicy, rather theodicy becomes a problem because of atheism: 50:08

There is more aufklärung and less ausklärung needed: 1:07:43

Why does a benevolent God allow ills?: 1:18:37

- The ills are a matter of perspective: 1:21:46

- Man is perpetrator, not victim: 1:55:25

- The sensual world is not the final purpose: 2:07:03

Why does a just God not punish evil?: 2:19:24

Thanks: 2:41:39

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

Theodicy Kant discusses most extensively and clearly in his lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any English translation).

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Reason, according to Kant, needs to ascribe to God three moral attributes: He is the holy lawgiver, the benevolent governor and the just judge. Benevolence and mercy however seem to be in contradiction with the other two attributes - with the relentless strictness of the lawgiver who demands nothing less than holiness, and the complete justice of the judge which doesn't leave even the smallest transgression unpunished. According to Kant however God's grace consists of not only not punishing the good person but rewarding him, of not making it impossible for us to stand in front of his judgment, and most of all of assisting us as long as we just honestly strive for being good.

Quote: 0:08

Moral theology: 1:04

The conflict between the attributes of God: 8:00

God rewards the good person out of grace, not out of justice: 10:21

God gives us everything which we need in order to stand in front of his judgment: 16:54

Theodicy: 38:38

The divine assistance to our imperfect morality: 48:29

The dialectic of reason in regards to God's assistance: 1:06:42

The theoretical belief in the antithesis harms religion: 1:19:06

Practically we ought to live according to the thesis: 1:30:21

God's grace is not bestowed, but always is already there when we open ourselves for it: 1:49:26

Thanks: 2:08:54

The antimoies in regards to God’s assistance Kant discusses in his Religion Within the Bounds of Mere Reason: https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1793.pdf. Aside from that many remarks on God’s benevolence and grace and the divine assistance can be found in the passages of his lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2updealing with religion (I am not aware of any English translation).

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According to Kant there are three kinds of theology, each leading to different concepts of God and ascribing different predicates to God: While transcendental theology ascribes to God only ontological attributes in the highest perfection and describes him als omnipresent, omnisufficient etc., physicotheology ascribes to him psychological attributes like a will or omniscience, moral theology however conceives of him as having three moral attributes: Being the holy law-giver, the benevolent preserver and the just judge, three characteristics which, according to Kant, exist in all kinds of faith at least unconsciously.

Quote: 0:08

Moral theology: 1:23

God's moral main attributes: 11:23

1. The holy law-giver and creator: 17:22

2. The benevolent preserver and world-governor: 30:11

3. The just judge and destroyer: 33:11

God's non-moral secondary attributes: 35:51

The true religion: 41:08

Why God has specifically three attributes: 45:05

Why the separation of the three moral attributes of God is important: 1:07:56

Kant's moral theology and the christian doctrine of the trinity: 1:31:20

The trinity in other kinds of faith: 1:47:17

Thanks: 2:14:35

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

Of the divine trinity Kant speaks in various places concerning God and religion in his lectures on moral philosophy: https://www.archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes271imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes272imma | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0027kant_s1s1/mode/2up and in his lectures on metaphysics, wherever these are concerned with rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant/mode/2up | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant_d7g2/mode/2up as well as in his lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up (I am not aware of any English translations).

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After having refuted every theoretical theology which tries to have cognition of God in himself and to prove him, Kant creates a moral theology: If there is no God and no life after death, then he who acts morally and follows the commendment of his reason, is foolish. This he ought not to be, therefore it is rational to, even without proof, for morality's sake believe in God.

Quote: 0:08

Pratical theology: 0:25

The moral argument for the belief in God: 8:32

The moral belief in God is a practical belief: 17:06

The moral belief as a necessary postulate of practical reason: 31:20

Believing as opposed to knowing or opining: 38:00

Possible objections and misunderstandings and their rejection: 57:53

Moral theology is the result of the whole critique of reason: 1:11:58

Believe as free holding-to-be-true: 1:17:34

Whether a moral person must be religious: 1:42:29

The relationship between belief and morality: 2:11:21

The weakness of Kant's moral theology: 2:12:50

Moral theology and physicotheology and the idea of the world order: 2:33:51

The relationship of God and moral law: 2:52:54

Thanks: 3:11:22

Short and concise explanations of the moral proof for God Kant gives in the canon of pure reason in his Critique of Pure Reason: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm, in the second main part of the dialectic of pure practical reason in the Critique of Practical Reason: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5683/5683-h/5683-h.htm, in the §s 86-91 of the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm and in his short essay: What Does it Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ6XQ74_Ubg

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Besides theoretical theology, which tries to cognize and prove God, there can also be a practical theology which only tries to cognize what God is for us and how we should behave towards him and which does not strive for knowledge of God but for rational belief. This practical theology however can only be moral theology, it can neither be pragmatic theology nor theological morality.

Quote: 0:08

Practical theology: 0:28

Pragmatic theology: 9:43

Theological morality: 32:18

Thanks: 51:12

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

The imperatives according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/imperatives-according-to-Kant.jpg

Against theological morality Kant argues repeatedly in his lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up and also in his Critique of Pure Reason: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm and his Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm.

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Nature around us seems too purposive and harmonic to be a product of chance. Physicotheology starts from the order of nature and from that deduces its divine originator and his attributes. This is the most natural, most easy to understand and original form of theology according to Kant. But one that, taken by itself, is insufficient to build religion on it but rather leads to paganism.

Quote: 0:08

The architectonic structure of theology: 2:03

Physicotheology: 7:43

The architectonic deduction of the different fields of theology: 14:28

The physicotheological argument for God: 22:13

Physicotheology in Islam: 37:45

The value of the physicotheological proof for God: 1:11:44

The God of physicotheology: 1:24:14

The refutation of the physicotheological proof for God: 1:55:08

Physicotheology leads to polytheism and hylemorphism: 2:11:24

The physicotheological proof for God secretly rests on the cosmological and ontological proof for God: 2:28:50

That there can't be knowledge of God's existence has adventages: 2:37:32

Physicotheology alone leads to paganism instead of religion: 2:43:08

Thanks: 2:51:07

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

The table of categories according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/table-of-categories-according-to-Kant.jpg

Rabia of Basra: https://youtu.be/cVSZaxcg6RY?si=YolngW29JMqsOflf

Remarks on physicotheology can be found in Kant's lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up, and also in his lectures on metaphysics: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant/mode/2up | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant_d7g2/mode/2up (I am not aware of a free English translation of either). Besides that there is Kant's pre-critical The Only Possible Argument In Support Of A Demonstration Of The Existence Of God: https://archive.org/details/the-only-possible-argument-in-support-of-a-demonstration-of-the-existence-of-god/mode/2up wherein he explains the physicotheological proof for God very well and elegantly. § 85. of the Critique of the Power of Judgment: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48433/48433-h/48433-h.htm also contains important explanations on physicotheology. Finally, the refutation of the physicotheological proof for God is found in the third main part of the dialectic of pure reason in the Critique of Pure Reason: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm.

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A sub field of rational theology, in which we try to have cognition of God through reason and without the help of any revelation, is transcendental theology. In this field all experience is transcended and we think about God through pure reason. This leads to deism, a conception of God according to which God is the necessary being and original force from which the world emanated, but not a conscious intelligence acting according to purposes which could be revered or loved. On transcendental theology therefore no religion can be built, however it is important for clarifying and correcting our concept of God.

Quote: 0:08

Transcendental theology: 0:41

Ontotheology: 7:23

- The God of ontotheology: Deism: 16:24

- The use of ontotheology: 35:24

- 1. Refutation of polytheism: 37:15

- 2. Refutation of pantheism: 50:53

- 3. Protection against anthropomorphism: 1:02:13

- 4. Refutation of dogmatic atheism: 1:04:21

- The ontological proof for God: 1:06:20

- The refutation of the ontological proof for God: 1:18:54

Cosmotheology: 1:57:03

- The cosmological proof for God: 1:57:24

- Cosmotheology is transcendental theology: 2:05:33

- The God of cosmotheology: Pantheism and world cause: 2:14:04

- The refutation of the cosmological proof for God: 2:22:23

Conclusion: 2:30:08

Thanks: 2:35:05

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

The table of categories according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/table-of-categories-according-to-Kant.jpg

The table of judgments according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/table-of-judgments-according-to-Kant.jpg

The transcendental theology Kant discusses mostly in his lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up, and also in his lectures on metaphysics: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant/mode/2up | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant_d7g2/mode/2up (I am not aware of a free English translation of either).

Whoever is interested specifically in the two transcendental proofs for God and their refutation, should read the third main part of the dialectic of pure reason in the Critique of Pure Reason: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm.

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The philosopher does not do revealed theology which presupposes believe in some divine revelation, but tries to have cognition of God through reason alone. Here he is met with the difficulty of how the finite creature may grasp the infinite creator, and most of all with the danger of sliding into anthropomorphism.

Quote: 0:08

Rational theology: 0:49

The difficulty of the cognition of God and of anthropomorphism: 6:31

How God can be talked about: 19:15

Via eminentiae: 30:40

Via negationis: 48:33

Via analogiae: 1:09:45

The fields of rational theology: 1:38:18

Kant's architectonic: 1:44:12

Thanks: 2:03:41

The table of categories according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/table-of-categories-according-to-Kant.jpg

Overiew over metaphysics according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Metaphysics-according-to-Kant-scaled.jpg

The thinking faculty according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/faculty-of-thinking-according-to-Kant.jpg

Overview over theology according to Kant: https://jonathanivoloewer.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/theology-according-to-Kant.png

Whoever wants to get more in depth concerning Kant's theology and its method should study the lectures on rational theology: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0000kant_r0k1/mode/2up, his lectures on metaphysics: https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant/mode/2up | https://archive.org/details/kantsgesammeltes0028kant_d7g2/mode/2up also contain many remarks on rational theology (I am not aware of a free English translation of either).

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