Kant’s Diabolical Evil Reconsidered

In this paper I focus on the unique challenge to provide a systematic account of the difference between human and diabolical evil in Kant’s philosophy – a theme that, as I show, lies at the core of Kant’s moral theory. I explain why I think Kant’s structural account, which cannot be refuted on grounds of future historical (contingent) events by definition, has been misunderstood in the literature hitherto. I then propose a novel account of Kant’s essential exclusion of diabolical evil from the realm of human freedom, showing how this exclusion is related to relevant epistemic limitations concerning the origin of the moral law.