The Philosophy of Kant: Moral and Political Writings

by Immanuel Kant

Many contemporaries criticized him for smashing the Age of Reason. Goethe, however, remarked that reading a page of Immanuel Kant was like entering a bright, well-lighted room: The great 18th-century philosopher illuminated everything he ever pondered. The 12 essays in this volume reveal Kant's towering importance as an ethical & social thinker as well as his enduring influence on the shape of philosophy. Included are excerpts from Dreams of a Visionary, Prolegomena to Every Future Metaphysics, Metaphysical Foundations of Morals, Critique of Judgement & Eternal Peace. As Professor Friedrich writes in his introduction to this volume: 'The problem of freedom, the freedom of the human personality to unfold & fulfill its higher destiny, is the central issue of all of Kant's philosophizing.'

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

672 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century philosopher from Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). He's regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe & of the late Enlightenment. His most important work is The Critique of Pure Reason, an investigation of reason itself. It encompasses an attack on traditional metaphysics & epistemology, & highlights his own contribution to these areas. Other main works of his maturity are The Critique of Practical Reason, which is about ethics, & The Critique of Judgment, about esthetics & teleology.

Pursuing metaphysics involves asking questions about the ultimate nature of reality. Kant suggested that metaphysics can be reformed thru epistemology. He suggested that by understanding the sources & limits of human knowledge we can ask fruitful metaphysical questions. He asked if an object can be known to have certain properties prior to the experience of that object. He concluded that all objects that the mind can think about must conform to its manner of thought. Therefore if the mind can think only in terms of causality–which he concluded that it does–then we can know prior to experiencing them that all objects we experience must either be a cause or an effect. However, it follows from this that it's possible that there are objects of such a nature that the mind cannot think of them, & so the principle of causality, for instance, cannot be applied outside experience: hence we cannot know, for example, whether the world always existed or if it had a cause. So the grand questions of speculative metaphysics are off limits, but the sciences are firmly grounded in laws of the mind. Kant believed himself to be creating a compromise between the empiricists & the rationalists. The empiricists believed that knowledge is acquired thru experience alone, but the rationalists maintained that such knowledge is open to Cartesian doubt and that reason alone provides us with knowledge. Kant argues, however, that using reason without applying it to experience will only lead to illusions, while experience will be purely subjective without first being subsumed under pure reason. Kant’s thought was very influential in Germany during his lifetime, moving philosophy beyond the debate between the rationalists & empiricists. The philosophers Fichte, Schelling, Hegel and Schopenhauer saw themselves as correcting and expanding Kant's system, thus bringing about various forms of German Idealism. Kant continues to be a major influence on philosophy to this day, influencing both Analytic and Continental philosophy.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for the introduction and for the essays contained within it not contained in other books by Kant I had previously read.

[Nicholas Hanawalt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disagree, but the writing and ideas are pretty great.

[Somsouthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As highly regarded as his writings be, admittedly it is quite difficult to comprehend; not that he was wrong. Nonetheless, I regard it as one of the most trancendental book I have ever read. Hopefully, I would read it again in the future for a better comprehension.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth it for the 'Prolegomena' alone, but it also contains the second and third 'Critiques' (edited), the 'Metaphysical Foundations of Morals' and his 'What is Enlightenment?', an essay with a edginess not usually associated with Kant's sense of duty and respect:

'Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding!

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature!'

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starts out a little rough. My lack of knowledge about Kant's life led me to ascribe the earlier essays, and both the sheer density of linguistic masturbation and Kant's overall snide attitude that they evince, to his relative youth, but now that I know that those earlier essays were written in his late fifties, I'm not sure what to think.

In any event, both the quality of his writing and the merit of his ideas improves substantially as he matures (in this case, as he approached his seventies), at least as far as I can tell based on the selection of essays in this book.

[James Violand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am an enthusiast for Kant. So many of his ideas ring true. That the mind coordinates perceptions and exists a priori sounds the death knell for materialism. If only scientists would read his work. If only militants would! If only theologians! He proves the necessity of a God without recourse to dogma. It takes some doing to understand him - I suggest reading his predecessors first - but he gives the knowledgeable reader a sense of euphoria missing from other philosophers.