Frontier Kantianism

Autonomy and Authority in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Joseph Smith

Bibliographic Data

ID14760211
AuthorsRyan W Davis (0000-0002-9868-8055, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume46
Issue2
Pages332-359
Publication date2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12220
OpenAlexW2805488312
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited26

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

Action (physics · Autonomy · Epistemology · Frontier · Political science · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Mormonism, Religion, and History · Philosophy · Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment

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