Kant's Separatist Approach in Terms of the Relationship Between Religion and Science

Abstract

The universe is covered with mysteries that lead to deep meaning and thought in a way that attracts the attention of the human mind. In all periods of the history of thought, there have been intellectual acts on being and existence. In this context, many great philosophers such as Leibniz drew attention to the astonishing state of existence by questioning how existence came into being. These inquiries have always stimulated inquisitive minds. While some say that there are no answers to such questions, others say that there are possible answers to these questions in the human search for meaning. In the ancient period, philosophers such as Aristotle began by pointing out that the desire to know is an important and indispensable element of human nature, while in the modern period, great phi-losophers such as Kant argued that the human mind is naturally inclined to produce metaphysical concepts. This situation has led the great minds of every period to ponder on the mystery of knowledge and existence, and when it comes to the meaning and essence of existence, we have arrived at the mutual relationship between religion and science, which are directly concerned with these issues. Because religion and science are undoubtedly the most important fields that claim to answer both the nature and the questions of existence. In this context, the views of the German philosopher Immauel Kant, who is one of the first names that come to mind in terms of his influence on the modern period and have inspired many philosophers, theologians and scientists to this day, are still very much alive today. The general and popular opinion is that Kant demolished metaphysics and argued that there is an irreconcilability between religion and science. However, his understanding of knowledge was based on building a new metaphysics rather than demolishing metaphysics. In this context, the meaning of religion and science in terms of his philosophy of knowledge constitutes the main subject of our study. In our study, we first examined Kant's understanding of knowledge based on his works. Then, by investigating what religious concepts such as God, morality and immortality, which are among the most fundamental issues of metaphysics, correspond to in his epistemology, we tried to justify the thesis that the “separationist/independence” model of religion and science is more appropriate to Kant's views on the relationship between religion and science, and we concluded that, contrary to popular belief, he rebuilt metaphysics, not destroyed it, and declared a separationist/independenceist view between religion and science, not a confrontational one.