Immanuel Kant studied at the Collegium Fredericianum.
College/University
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1850
Ulitsa Aleksandra Nevskogo, 14, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, 236041
Immanuel Kant studied at the University of Königsberg.
Career
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1768
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant by Johann Gottlieb Becker, 1768.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1790
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant. Circa 1790. Possibly by Elisabeth von Stägemann.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1792
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant by Carle Vernet from a portrait of 1792.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1801
Sculpture portrait of Emmanuel Kant by Friedrich Hagemann.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1822
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant engraved by Rosmäsler, 1822, from a painting by Schorr.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1882
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1883
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1892
Kaliningrad, Russia
Paintiong of Kant with friends, including Christian Jakob Kraus, Johann Georg Hamann, Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel and Karl Gottfried Hagen by Emil Doerstling, around 1892-1893.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
1909
Kaliningrad, Russia
Kant in his cabinet. Lithograph by Heinrich Wolff.
Gallery of Immanuel Kant
Kaliningrad, Russia
Portrait of Immanuel Kant.
Achievements
Membership
Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences
Immanuel Kant was a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (now Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities).
Russian Academy of Sciences
Immanuel Kant was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Paintiong of Kant with friends, including Christian Jakob Kraus, Johann Georg Hamann, Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel and Karl Gottfried Hagen by Emil Doerstling, around 1892-1893.
Statue of Immanuel Kant in Kaliningrad State University area, Kaliningrad, Russia. Replica by Harald Haacke of the original sculpture by Christian Daniel Rauch that disappeared in 1945 during the Second World War.
Dissertation on the form and principles of the sensible and the intelligible world
(Kant's Inaugural Dissertation of 1770 introduced a fundam...)
Kant's Inaugural Dissertation of 1770 introduced a fundamentally new theory about the metaphysics and epistemology of space and time which was to remain a constant in his subsequent thought, but also left open crucial questions about the source of our most fundamental concepts.
(The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first publi...)
The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed in 1788 by the Critique of Practical Reason and in 1790 by the Critique of Judgment. In the preface to the first edition Kant explains what he means by a critique of pure reason: "I do not mean by this a critique of books and systems, but of the faculty of reason in general, in respect of all knowledge after which it may strive independently of all experience."
(This edition of Prolegomena includes Kant’s letter of Feb...)
This edition of Prolegomena includes Kant’s letter of February 1772 to Marcus Herz, a momentous document in which Kant relates the progress of his thinking and announces that he is now ready to present a critique of pure reason. This edition of Prolegomena includes Kant’s letter of February 1772 to Marcus Herz, a momentous document in which Kant relates the progress of his thinking and announces that he is now ready to present a critique of pure reason.
An Answer to the Question: 'What is Enlightenment?'
(Immanuel Kant was one of the most influential philosopher...)
Immanuel Kant was one of the most influential philosophers in the whole of Europe, who changed Western thought with his examinations of reason and the nature of reality. In these writings, he investigates human progress, civilization, morality and why, to be truly enlightened, we must all have the freedom and courage to use our own intellect. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war, and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked, and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals, and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
(Published in 1785, Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Meta...)
Published in 1785, Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ranks alongside Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as one of the most profound and influential works in moral philosophy ever written. In Kant's own words, its aim is to identify and corroborate the supreme principle of morality, the categorical imperative. He argues that human beings are ends in themselves, never to be used by anyone merely as a means and that universal and unconditional obligations must be understood as an expression of the human capacity for autonomy and self-governance. As such, they are laws of freedom. This volume contains Mary Gregor's acclaimed translation of the work, sympathetically revised by Jens Timmermann, and an accessible, updated introduction by Christine Korsgaard.
(Immanuel Kant was actively concerned with issues in the p...)
Immanuel Kant was actively concerned with issues in the philosophy of natural science throughout his career. The Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science presents his most mature reflections on these themes in the context of both his critical philosophy, presented in the Critique of Pure Reason, and the natural science of his time. This volume features a new translation which is especially clear and accurate, together with an historical and philosophical introduction and a guide to further reading.
(The Critique of Practical Reason is the second of Kant's ...)
The Critique of Practical Reason is the second of Kant's three Critiques, one of his three major treatises on moral theory, and a seminal text in the history of moral philosophy. Originally published three years after his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique provides further elaboration of the basic themes of Kant's moral theory, gives the most complete statement of his highly original theory of freedom of the will, and develops his practical metaphysics. This revised edition of Kant's Critique of Practical Reason - which contains Mary Gregor's acclaimed translation - is now the authoritative translation of this work. A substantial and lucid introduction by Andrews Reath places the mains themes of the Critique in the context of Kant's moral theory and his critical system. For this edition, the introduction has been revised and the guide to the secondary reading completely updated.
(Divided into two sections, one on aesthetic judgment and ...)
Divided into two sections, one on aesthetic judgment and the other on teleological judgment, "Critique of Judgment" proceeds to analyze the human experience of the beautiful and the sublime. Kant explores a myriad of factors that determine aesthetics: from the effect of art and nature to the role that human imagination plays, from the objectivity of taste to the limits of representation. He continues with the connection of aesthetics with morality, disinterestedness, and originality. In the second section, he explores teleological judgments, or judging things according to their ends, and posits that man is the ultimate end, and all forms of nature and beauty exist for the purpose of their connection to mankind. Kant had a profound impact on the artists, authors, and other philosophers of both the classical and romantic periods, establishing in his final "Critique" a milestone in critical theory and philosophy. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.
(Werner S. Pluhar's masterful rendering of Kant's major wo...)
Werner S. Pluhar's masterful rendering of Kant's major work on religion is meticulously annotated and presented here with a selected bibliography, glossary, and generous index. Stephen R. Palmquist's engaging Introduction provides historical background, discusses Religion in the context of Kant's philosophical system, elucidates Kant's main arguments, and explores the implications and ongoing relevance of the work.
On the Old Saw: That May be Right in Theory But It Won't Work in Practice
(In this famous essay, first published in 1793, Kant consi...)
In this famous essay, first published in 1793, Kant considers the alleged conflict between theory and practice in the conduct of human affairs in three widening contexts: those of the common person faced with a moral decision, of the politician and the citizen concerned with the extent and limits of political obligation, and, finally, of the citizen of the world whose actions have a bearing on war and peace among nations.
(In this short essay, Kant completes his political theory ...)
In this short essay, Kant completes his political theory and philosophy of history, considering the prospects for peace among nations and addressing questions that remain central to our thoughts about nationalism, war, and peace. Ted Humphrey provides an eminently readable translation, along with a brief introduction that sketches Kant's argument.
(The Metaphysics of Morals is Kant's final major work in m...)
The Metaphysics of Morals is Kant's final major work in moral philosophy. In it, he presents the basic concepts and principles of right and virtue and the system of duties of human beings as such. The work comprises two parts: the Doctrine of Right concerns outer freedom and the rights of human beings against one another; the Doctrine of Virtue concerns inner freedom and the ethical duties of human beings to themselves and others.
(Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View essentially r...)
Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View essentially reflects the last lectures Kant gave for his annual course in anthropology, which he taught from 1772 until his retirement in 1796. The lectures were published in 1798, with the largest first printing of any of Kant's works. Intended for a broad audience, they reveal not only Kant's unique contribution to the newly emerging discipline of anthropology but also his desire to offer students a practical view of the world and of humanity's place in it. With its focus on what the human being 'as a free-acting being makes of himself or can and should make of himself,' the Anthropology also offers readers an application of some central elements of Kant's philosophy.
(The second, corrected edition of the first and only compl...)
The second, corrected edition of the first and only complete English translation of Kant's highly influential introduction to philosophy, presenting both the terminological and structural basis for his philosophical system and offering an invaluable key to his main works, particularly the three Critiques.
(This volume is the first-ever English translation of Kant...)
This volume is the first-ever English translation of Kant's last major work, the so-called Opus postumum, a work Kant himself described as his "chef-d'oeuvre" and as the keystone of his entire philosophical system. It occupied him for more than the last decade of his life. Professor Förster's introduction places the text in the context of Kant's earlier writings and provides a comprehensive account of the remarkable history of the manuscript from Kant's death to its eventual publication in the 1930s.
(Lectures on Philosophical Theology is an indispensable ad...)
Lectures on Philosophical Theology is an indispensable addition to Kant's works in English. It has not been previously translated, and even though it is compiled from lecture notes, it provides information on Kant's views not previously available in English.
Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens
(Using Isaac Newton s mathematical principles and laws of ...)
Using Isaac Newton s mathematical principles and laws of motion and taking up an idea first suggested by Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, the greatest philosopher of the eighteenth century, in 1755 produced a detailed account of what has come to be known as the Nebular hypothesis, still considered the most plausible explanation for the formation of the solar system: the structure of the universe develops from widely dispersed materials scattered throughout space which, under the influence of the forces of attraction and repulsion, rotate, flatten, and over time produce stars and planets. In his account, Kant also considers the ring of Saturn, the formation of moons, and other celestial phenomena (like the axial rotation of the planets and the development of comets). He also lets his imagination run rampant in a fascinating exploration of what living creatures must be like on other planets.
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. He is regarded as one of the most important thinkers of modern Europe. He thus inaugurated a new era in the development of philosophical thought.
Background
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724, in the city of Königsberg (then the capital of Prussia, now modern-day Kaliningrad, Russia). He spent his entire life in and around his hometown, never traveling more than a hundred miles from Königsberg. His father, Johann Georg Kant, was a German craftsman and harness maker from Memel, Prussia; his mother, Anna Regina Reuter, was born in Königsberg but was the daughter of a Nuremberg saddle and harness maker. He was the fourth of eleven children (five of whom reached adulthood). He was baptized as "Emanuel" but later changed his name to "Immanuel" after he learned Hebrew. Kant was raised in a Pietist household (a strict Lutheran sect that stressed intense religious devotion, personal humility and a literal interpretation of the Bible), and accordingly received a strict, punitive and disciplinary education that favored Latin and religious instruction over mathematics and science.
Education
Immanuel Kant’s elementary education was undertaken at Saint George’s Hospital School, after which he was educated at the Pietist Collegium Fredericianum, where he remained from 1732 until 1740, and where he studied theology and excelled in the classics. Kant showed great application to study early in his life and was enrolled in the University of Königsberg in 1740, at the age of 16.
There, under the influence of a young instructor, Martin Knutzen, Kant became interested in philosophy, mathematics, and the natural sciences, and, through the use of Knutzen’s private library, grew familiar with the Rationalist philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and Christian Wolff, as well as the natural philosophy and new mathematical physics of Sir Isaac Newton. Knutzen dissuaded the young scholar from traditional Idealism (i.e. the idea that reality is purely mental), which was negatively regarded by the whole philosophy of the 18th Century, and a chance reading of David Hume also raised his suspicions against Rationalism, and he was soon to move away from his early Rationalist beliefs. He later admitted that reading Hume was what "first interrupted my dogmatic slumber."
The death of Kant’s father in 1746 left him without income and interrupted his studies. But he continued his scholarly research, and published several early works, mainly on scientific topics.
In 1755, Kant presented a Latin treatise, "On Fire," to qualify for his doctoral degree. He actually received his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy the same year, in 1755. Since he had written his last habilitation thesis 14 years earlier, a new habilitation thesis was required and Kant earned his second doctorate in 1770.
For seven years, Immanuel Kant worked as a private tutor in the smaller towns surrounding Königsberg and worked for three different families. With them, he was introduced to the influential society of the city, acquired social grace, and made his farthest travels from his native city - some 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) away to the town of Arnsdorf. 1749 saw the publication of his first philosophical work, "Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte" ("Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces").
In 1755, Kant qualified for his doctoral degree spent the next 15 years as a non-salaried lecturer at the University of Königsberg (dependent on fees from the students who attended his lectures). He lectured on Metaphysics, Logic, mathematics, physics and physical geography, and, despite a large teaching burden, continued to publish papers on various topics, including "Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes" ("The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God") in 1763 and other works on Logic and Aesthetics. He finally achieved a professorship of Logic and Metaphysics at Königsberg in 1770, at the age of 46, an established scholar and an increasingly influential philosopher.
For the next decade, Kant published almost nothing and applied himself to the vexing issues of the Philosophy of Mind and to a resolution of the contradictions inherent in perception and conception as explained by the Rationalists and Empiricists, resisting all his friends’ attempts to bring him out of his isolation.
The result was the "Kritik der reinen Vernunft" ("Critique of Pure Reason") of 1781, now widely regarded one of the most important and difficult books in Western philosophical thought. However, this long (over 800 pages in the original German edition) and dense book, written in a somewhat convoluted style was largely ignored upon its initial publication, and Kant, who was by then quite a popular author, was dismayed. He wrote the "Prolegomena zu einer jeden künftigen Metaphysik" ("Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics") in 1783 as a summary and clarification of its main views, but it was only as a result of a series of widely read public letters on the Kantian philosophy published by Karl Reinhold in 1786, as a response to the Pantheism Dispute (a central intellectual controversy of the time), that Kant’s reputation spread, making him the most famous philosopher of his era.
Undaunted by the negative initial response to his masterwork, Kant continued to publish papers throughout the 1780s, including a heavily revised second edition of the "Critique of Pure Reason." He also continued to develop his moral philosophy, notably in 1785’s "Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten" ("Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals"), 1788’s "Kritik der praktischen Vernunft" ("Critique of Practical Reason," known as the "second Critique") and 1797’s "Metaphysik der Sitten" ("Metaphysics of Morals"). The 1790 "Kritik der Urteilskraft" ("Critique of Judgment," the "third Critique") applied the Kantian system to Aesthetics and teleology (the philosophical study of design and purpose).
By the 1790s, there were several journals devoted solely to defending and criticizing the Kantian philosophy. But, despite his success, philosophical trends were moving in another direction, and many of Kant’s most important disciples (including Karl Reinhold, Jakob Sigismund Beck, and Johann Gottlieb Fichte) transformed the Kantian position into increasingly radical forms of Idealism, marking the emergence of the German Idealism movement. Kant opposed these developments and even publicly denounced Fichte in an open letter in 1799. Kant continued writing until shortly before his death, although the Critiques remain the real sources of his influence.
Kant was born into a Prussian German family of Lutheran Protestant faith in East Prussia. The family belonged to a Protestant sect of Pietists, and concern for religion touched every aspect of their lives.
Politics
Similarly, although reason can help us supplant unjust political regimes with better ones, for example, Kant did not believe that reason is an unqualified good but must be employed critically in order to avoid heading down the wrong path. Although he objected to direct democracy as "necessarily a despotism," Kant foreshadowed Democratic Peace Theory in his 1795 essay "Zum ewigen Frieden" ("Perpetual Peace"), in which he posits that constitutional republics were one of several necessary conditions for perpetual peace. Unlike many Enlightenment thinkers, he argued that real democracy is not only humane but also in keeping with the basic human desire to pursue collective ends.
Views
Kant's doctrine of the "primacy of practical over pure reason," led to the later 19th Century doctrine of Voluntarism. He argued that, intellectually, humans are incapable of knowing ultimate reality, but this need not (and, Kant argues, must not) interfere with the duty of acting as though the spiritual character of this reality were certain. Thus, while Kant freely admitted that Newtonian physics was a clear and accurate depiction of the world of appearances, the world we are able to physically perceive, there was still room in his system for other concepts completely (such as free will, rational agency, God, good and bad, etc), but that these concepts could not be subjects of definite knowledge.
Kant argued that, while reason can be a helpful tool, it must be properly controlled so that we do not unreflectively accept things for which we have no evidence. What he calls the "critical method" is a philosophical approach that allows people to discover which questions reason can answer, and which ones it cannot. Thus, in his 1793 "Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft" ("Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason"), Kant again encouraged us to give up things we do not need, namely religious practices that are unnecessary for true moral conduct.
Like many philosophers before (and after) him, Kant was deeply dissatisfied with the purported solutions of other philosophers to the perennial problem of how to reconcile the apparently deterministic character of the physical world with the existence of human free will, which was necessary for the resolution of moral and ethical questions. These contradictions seemed especially stark in the wake of the great leap forward in the physical sciences during the 17th Century, in which scientists seemed largely agreed on the new findings, as compared to the chaotic battlefield of philosophy, where no philosopher seemed able to agree with any other. He was also concerned with how a God could fit in with an essentially mechanical and determined universe, and he was eager to confront the serious doubts about philosophy as an intellectual enterprise that the skepticism of David Hume had recently sown in the philosophical community as a whole.
Kant's view of Ethics is deontological (i.e. it focuses on the rightness or wrongness of the actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions or the character of the actor, and holds that ethical rules bind people to an ethical duty). It is founded on his view of rationality as the ultimate good and his belief that all people are fundamentally rational beings. He believed that morality was derived from rationality and that, just as rational thought leads us to objective reality, it also leads us to objective morality, which could be rationally supported.
Kant's major contribution to Ethics was the theory of the Categorical Imperative, an absolutely universal, non-negotiable moral law which holds up regardless of context. At its simplest, it states that one should act only in such a way that you would want your actions to become a universal law, applicable to everyone in a similar situation (a kind of Moral Universalism or Moral Absolutism). Additionally, one must strive to treat others not as mere means, but as ends in themselves, so that (in stark contrast to Utilitarianism) it can never be right to manipulate, abuse or lie to individuals, even in the interests of others or even the perceived greater good. This latter maxim was, and remains, highly controversial when taken to extremes, but Kant insisted that it should remain sacrosanct. He asserted that each person is his own moral agent, and we should only be responsible for our own actions, not those of others.
According to Kant’s "critical method," as described above, any attempts to prove God’s existence are necessarily a waste of time, because our concepts only work properly in the empirical world and God is, by definition, a non-empirical entity. However, he justifies his own faith by arguing that, although it would be superstitious or irrational to have a belief on something which can actually be empirically proven or demonstrated, it is not irrational to have a belief on something that clearly cannot be proven either way (like the existence of God). This amounts to a kind of Fideism.
This, however, is very different from Kant’s early metaphysical arguments in his pre-critical period. In his 1763 "Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes" ("The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God"), he first questions both the ontological argument and the argument from design for the existence of God (see the section on the Philosophy of Religion), before proposing his own solution (sometimes called the Kantian Moral Argument), that moral behavior would only be rational in our manifestly unfair world if there is a next life in which justice is administered.
Kant produced an early treatise on Aesthetics, "Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen" ("Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime": 1763), and did not write on the subject again until the end of his career, in the "Kritik der Urteilskraft" ("Critique of Judgment": 1790). He claimed that judgments of taste are both subjective and universal: subjective in that they are responses of pleasure, and do not essentially involve any claims about the properties of the object itself; universal in that they are not merely personal, but must in a crucial way be disinterested. He divided the kinds of aesthetic response into those of the Beautiful (a pleasure in order, harmony, delicacy, and the like) and the Sublime (a response of awe before the infinite or the overwhelming).
Although less well known, Kant also wrote on the sciences throughout his life. In an early scientific paper entitled "Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels" ("General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens") of 1755, Kant postulated the origin of the solar system as a result of the gravitational interaction of atoms, anticipating Pierre-Simon Laplace’s hypothesis by more than 40 years. He also correctly deduced that the Milky Way was a large disk of stars, which he theorized was also formed from a much larger spinning cloud of gas.
Quotations:
"The wish to talk to God is absurd. We cannot talk to one we cannot comprehend - and we cannot comprehend God; we can only believe in Him."
"Religion is too important a matter to its devotees to be a subject of ridicule. If they indulge in absurdities, they are to be pitied rather than ridiculed."
"The body is a temple."
"Freedom is the alone unoriginated birthright of man, and belongs to him by force of his humanity."
"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."
"Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination."
"Beneficence is a duty."
"As everybody likes to be honored, so people imagine that God also wants to be honored. They forget that the fulfillment of duty towards men is the only honor adequate to him."
"The death of dogma is the birth of morality."
Membership
Immanuel Kant was a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (now Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) and the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences
,
Prussia
Russian Academy of Sciences
,
Russia
Personality
Only a life of extraordinary self-discipline enabled Kant to accomplish his task: he kept to such a strict routine that the residents of Königsberg quite literally set their watches by his schedule. Rising at five, he drank tea and smoked his daily pipe and meditated for an hour. Contrary to his dour reputation, though, Kant was actually very sociable, a witty and amusing conversationalist, an elegant dresser, and his lectures at the University of Königsberg, where he taught for over 30 years, were famous for their brilliance. Towards the end of his life, Kant became increasingly anti-social and bitter over the growing loss of his memory and capacity for work.
Physical Characteristics:
Kant was barely 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall, and extremely thin, and his health was never robust, but he attributed his longevity and his prodigious output to his invariable daily routine. From 1790 Kant’s health began to decline seriously. He became totally blind and finally died on 12 February 1804.
Quotes from others about the person
"Of Kant it may be said that what is good and true in his philosophy would have been buried with him, were it not for Schopenhauer." - Michael Kelly, author of the Kant's Ethics and Schopenhauer's Criticism
Interests
playing cards, theater
Philosophers & Thinkers
Maimon, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Politicians
Frederick II of Prussia
Writers
Lucretius, Laurence Sterne
Music & Bands
Ludwig van Beethoven
Connections
Immanuel Kant died a bachelor. He seemed to have a rewarding social life.