尋找康德哲學新定向──從「希望」審視其哲學

In search of a new orientation of Kant's philosophy: From the concept of Hope to his entire philosophical agenda

「我可希望甚麼？」希望問題（question of hope /Hoffnungsfrage）於康德學統裡常為人忽略。學者多歸諸宗教哲學範疇，甚或僅視為一附帶、中介問題，以聯繫「我能知甚麼？」與「我應做甚麼？」的論域，遂至今仍未見完整、獨立的康德希望哲學或希望理論面世。 雖然學人鮮以「希望」為研究重點，但並不代表希望概念於康德言無足輕重，反之，若以之為繩準閱讀其哲學，可看到有關希望問題的思慮實貫穿了康德「批判」和「學說」時期。本文以「希望概念和問題」為圓心，梳理出康德哲學中一道從思考「最高善」發展到關注「人類道德進步」的線索，圖以之開展閱讀康德哲學之新定向。

The question of hope (Hoffnungsfrage) - “What may I hope?” – has been overlooked in the mainstream Kantian scholarship. It is generally categorized into the field of philosophy of religion, or even to be treated as an appendage or solely a mediating question to connect the discourses on “what can I know?” and “what ought I to do?”, whilst the marginalization of this question leads to indifference towards the related researches. Therefore a complete and independent Kant’s theory or philosophy of hope is not yet to be seen. Albeit few scholars put high value on the concept of hope, it does not mean that the concept of hope to Kant is insignificant. If we set the concept of hope as the orientation point of reading Kant’s philosophy, we would see that the concept of hope and the related discussion appear frequently in his works, not only in the “critiques” but also in the “doctrines”. His apparently disparate views on the problem of hope in different periods of his work can actually be formulated to a theory of hope. In the paper, I tried to reveal the hidden philosophical agenda that runs through the entire development of Kant’s philosophy: from the reflection on the concept of highest good to the issues of the improvement of human morality in general. In conclusion, by reinterpreting Kant’s philosophy as a kind of philosophy of hope, we may gain a new orientation to understand his philosophy in addition to the epistemological and ethical approaches as favored in mainstream Kantian scholarship.