Reflective Judgment and Radical Evil in Kant's Religion

This article argues that, on Kant's account, the claim that an individual is radically evil depends on a reflective judgment that treats all the choices this individual makes as if they were determined by a single supreme maxim. Subsequently, it shows that Kant's proof of the universality of radical evil is a transcendental argument, which establishes that the human experience of moral life as a constant struggle is only possible for a person whose choices are determined by a single supreme maxim if that person's supreme maxim is evil. It concludes that the concept of radical evil is a regulative principle, which explains how radical evil is consistent with human freedom.