ABSTRACT
Reductionism can be understood in either a loose or a strict sense, which we can call ‘explanatory’ and ‘eliminative’ reductionism, respectively. In the loose sense reductionism means explaining everything relevant to a given field of inquiry in terms of a single, all-pervasive factor outside that field, which is necessary to a proper understanding of that field. Kant clearly does reduce religion to morality (in both senses), so the story goes, for he consistently defines religion as ‘the recognition of all duties as divine commands.’ The common view that for Kant true religion is entirely humanistic neglects the fact that in this passage he says morality necessarily ‘extends itself’, or points beyond itself, to the idea of a God. In revealed religion, then, morality conforms to theology, while in natural religion theology conforms to morality. Kant goes on to distinguish between two types of natural religion, only the first of which would be reductionist in the strict sense.
