Redemption is theoretically possible but only as a supersensible leap —a conversion that reframes the agent’s entire relationship to the moral law. The past deed becomes a testament to a former self, not a current identity. 3. The Hegelian Dialectic: Redemption as Sublation (Aufhebung) Where Kant sees a leap, G.W.F. Hegel sees a process. In the Phenomenology of Spirit , the unhappy consciousness and the concept of forgiveness reveal redemption as a social-ontological event. Hegel argues that wrong (unrecht) is not an absolute stain but a moment in the dialectic of recognition.
However, a latent possibility exists in Kant’s concept of radical evil —the human propensity to subordinate the moral law to self-interest. Redemption, from a Kantian perspective, would require a revolution in the disposition of the will (Gesinnung). This is not a temporal change but a noumenal one: the agent must retroactively repudiate the old maxim at the level of their intelligible character. The past act remains, but the self who performed it is declared a stranger. philosophy of redemption pdf
Authentic redemption requires the overcoming of resentment . To be redeemed is to stop wishing the past were different and to actively will it as it was. 5. A Contemporary Synthesis: The Tripartite Model of Redemption Integrating these traditions, I propose a functional model of redemption comprising three irreducible dimensions: Redemption is theoretically possible but only as a