Luther and Kant Visions of Freedom free essay sample

A study into the works of Luther King (Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans) and Immanuel Kant (An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?) and the issue of freedom. The paper shows that Martin Luther, in his Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans claims that people are free when their actions naturally mimic laws and morality to such an extent that those laws are rendered unnecessary. The paper then shows the opposite view of Immanuel Kant, in his An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? : Freedom for Kant is the ability to wield ones reasoning without restraint in public. The paper explores how a close reading of these two texts reveals that Kants and Luthers views on freedom are actually more similar than different, in fact they are mutually exclusive and Kants views can even be read as a rephrasing of Luthers views. We will write a custom essay sample on Luther and Kant: Visions of Freedom or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Let us analyze these two passages. Luther advances no opportunity for anyone even learned men to question the law. Indeed, Luthers version of freedom is counterintuitive to our thinking or at least to Kants thinking in that freedom is precisely that which restrains. The moment we contradict the law either in speech or action, we are not acting with freedom. Freedom for Luther is naturally conforming to laws that do not even need to exist. Perhaps the analogy of a child riding his bike with training wheels but without ever touching the training wheels to the ground ` without ever needing the training wheels. Similarly, Luthers version of free people do not need any laws. Rather, they naturally conform to what the laws are, should have been, or would be.`