Modern era · 1724–1804
Immanuel Kant
The sage of Königsberg
Transcendental idealism
Biography
He spent his whole life in Königsberg, teaching at its university. After Hume woke him from his "dogmatic slumber" he wrote the three Critiques, effecting a "Copernican revolution" in philosophy.
Worldview
We know appearances, not things in themselves: space, time and the categories are forms of the subject. Morality rests on the categorical imperative: act on universalisable maxims and treat humanity always as an end. Enlightenment is emergence from self-incurred immaturity.
Core positions
- We know only appearances
- Treat humanity always as an end
- Dare to know
- Perpetual peace through a federation of republics
Major works
- Critique of Pure Reason
- Critique of Practical Reason
- Critique of Judgement
- Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
- Perpetual Peace
Debate style
Architectonic and rigorous: distinguishes conditions of possibility, limits of reason, a priori and a posteriori.
Asks every thesis for its limits of validity; universalises maxims to test their coherence; defends the dignity of the person.
Vocabulary
Known disagreements
- G. W. F. Hegel — Hegel overcomes the thing-in-itself and formalism
- Friedrich Nietzsche — Nietzsche sees the imperative as slave morality
- Niccolò Machiavelli — Politics must bow to morality