Overview
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) spent nearly his entire life in Königsberg, rising from tutor to professor at the university there. After early scientific and metaphysical essays, the Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787) launched his “critical” philosophy. He asked how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible and how moral obligation can bind autonomous agents. Later Critiques treated practical reason and aesthetic/teleological judgment. Handbook dates—born 22 April 1724, died 12 February 1804—are secure. He became the hinge between early modern rationalism/empiricism and German idealism.
Main ideas
The mind’s a priori forms of intuition (space, time) and categories structure experience; we know appearances, not things in themselves. Synthetic a priori judgments make mathematics and pure natural science possible within those bounds. Morality rests on autonomy: the categorical imperative tests maxims by universalizability and respect for humanity as end. Freedom is a practical postulate required by moral law. Aesthetic judgment claims subjective universality without reducing beauty to concepts. Religion and politics are reinterpreted within reason’s limits—perpetual peace, publicity, and moral faith rather than speculative proofs of God.
Major works
- Critique of Pure Reason
- Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
- Critique of Judgment
- Critique of Practical Reason
Legacy
Kant set the agenda for German idealism and remains central to epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and human-rights discourse. Analytic and Continental traditions alike continually renegotiate his dualisms. University curricula treat the Critiques as unavoidable modern landmarks.
Themes in this archive
Morality (2) · Dignity (1) · Freedom (1)
Quotes by theme
Immanuel Kant on morality · Immanuel Kant on enlightenment · Immanuel Kant on reason