Self-knowledge as religious experience. On an aspect of Kant's conception of the vocation of human beings

The paper deals with an aspect of Kant's conception of our vocation (Bestimmung). It is argued that the way Kant conceives of our "higher" vocation, namely in terms of a vocation to moral self-legislation, allows for a religious experience of ourselves and in ourselves. In understanding herself in relation to the holiness of her pure will, a person might have a religious experience of herself, conceiving of her duties as divine commands, whilst also in a sense experiencing God in herself - in her personality.