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title: Immanuel Kant
titleEn: Immanuel Kant
titleRu: Иммануил Кант
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Immanuel Kant (<span lang="ru">Иммануил Кант</span>; 1724–1804) was a German philosopher.[^1]

## In A Confession

[[A Confession]] (<span lang="ru">Исповедь</span>, 1879–82) names him twice, both in chapter XII. Tolstoy was "quite convinced of the impossibility of proving the existence of a Deity (Kant had shown, and I quite understood him, that it could not be proved)", yet he went on seeking God (XII.4).[^2] He "went over in [his] mind the arguments of Kant and Schopenhauer showing the impossibility of proving the existence of a God", and began to refute them: a cause is not a category of thought like space and time; if I exist, there is a cause, and a cause of causes, and that is what is called God (XII.4).[^3] See [[Arthur Schopenhauer]].

## On proving God {#on-proving-god}

The PSS commentary points to the *Critique of Pure Reason*, the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements, chapter III, sections 4, 5 and 6, where Kant writes of the "impossibility" of the ontological, cosmological and physico-theological proofs of God's existence.[^4] In outline (general scholarship, not from these sources): Kant argues that these proofs try to reach by pure reason a being that lies beyond any possible experience; the ontological proof treats existence as a property contained in the idea of God, and the other two in the end rest on it.

## Open questions

- The outline above is general scholarship and should be checked against the *Critique* before the page goes live.
- When and in what language Tolstoy read the *Critique* is not shown by these sources.

## Dive provenance

- [1879-1882-a-confession](../works/non-fiction/personal-papers/1879-1882-a-confession/index.md) — the text of A Confession (PSS 23:1–59) and its commentary (PSS 23:515–537); Johan's reader notes of 10 October 2026 asked for this page.

[^1]: The Tolstoy Digital person list calls him <span lang="ru">«Родоначальник немецкой классической философии»</span>, "the founder of German classical philosophy" (`personList.xml`, person 6092: 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804).

[^2]: <span lang="ru">«Несмотря на то, что я вполне был убежден в невозможности доказательства бытия божия (Кант доказал мне, и я вполне понял его, что доказать этого нельзя), я все-таки искал бога»</span> (PSS 23:44, ch. XII). English: Maude.

[^3]: <span lang="ru">«То я проверял в уме доводы Канта и Шопенгауэра о невозможности доказательства бытия божия, то я начинал опровергать их. Причина, говорил я себе, не есть такая же категория мышления, как пространство и время. Если я есмь, то есть на то причина, и причина причин. И эта причина всего есть то, что называют богом»</span> (PSS 23:44, ch. XII). English: Maude.

[^4]: <span lang="ru">«В „Критике чистого разума“ Канта (I. Трансцендентальное учение об элементах, гл. III, секция 4, 5 и 6) говорится о „невозможности“ онтологического, космологического и физико-теологического доказательства существования бога»</span> (PSS 23:534, commentary, note 31). English: ours.