Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) was a German philosopher whose influence on Western philosophy is undeniable (Montagud Rubio, 2020). His ideas deeply impacted the development of philosophical thought, and he is considered the foremost exponent of the Enlightenment in Germany. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), it has been stated that all philosophy preceding Kant's work may be regarded as ancient, as he initiated a genuine revolution in the philosophy of his time.
Biography
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724, in Königsberg, Germany, now Kaliningrad, Russia (Montagud Rubio, 2020). He came from a modest family of Scottish descent, being the fourth of nine children born to Johann Georg Kant, a harness maker, and Anna Regina Kant (Montagud Rubio, 2020). Both parents were devout followers of Pietism, a branch of the 18th-century Lutheran Church (Guerri, n.d.). Recognizing young Kant's potential, a local pastor arranged for his education (Guerri, n.d.). His upbringing was influenced by Lutheran Pietism, a legacy he received from his mother (Montagud Rubio, 2020). Thus, according to Montagud Rubio (2020), Kant attended the Collegium Fridericianum, a Pietist institution where he gained strong foundational knowledge in classical languages and culture.
In 1740, Kant enrolled at the University of Königsberg to study theology (Bird & Duignan, 2024). Although he attended theology courses and even delivered a few sermons, he was primarily drawn to mathematics and physics. Influenced by a young professor familiar with Christian Wolff's teachings and passionate about Isaac Newton's science, Kant began exploring Newton's works. In 1744, he started writing his first book, Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte (Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces), addressing issues related to kinetic forces and their measurement. Bird and Duignan (2024) note that although Kant planned an academic career, his father's death in 1746 and his failure to secure a sub-tutorship at a university-affiliated school forced him to withdraw and find alternative means of support.
Between 1746 and 1754, Kant supported himself by tutoring the children of affluent families (Montagud Rubio, 2020). After earning his habilitation, he began teaching a variety of subjects, ranging from mathematics and physics to philosophical topics such as history, logic, and ethics. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), in 1755, Kant earned his doctorate with the thesis Meditationum quarundam de igne succinta delineatio (A Brief Sketch of Some Meditations on Fire), followed by his habilitation thesis, Principiorum primorum cognitionis metaphysicae nova dilucidatio (A New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Knowledge).
During this period, he anonymously published Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, presenting his theories on the solar system's formation from an original nebula (Montagud Rubio, 2020). Although initially overlooked, his ideas were later revisited by physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1796, who proposed a similar hypothesis known as the Kant-Laplace Nebular Hypothesis. The year 1769 marked a turning point in Kant’s intellectual trajectory as he began critiquing the philosophy of his time, challenging prominent thinkers. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), this year is seen as the division between his pre-critical and critical phases: the former focused on metaphysical works without significant critique, and the latter included his most renowned writings.
In 1770, Kant was appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg, providing him with greater financial and academic stability (Montagud Rubio, 2020). Despite his prolific output, his life was largely uneventful, as he spent nearly all of it in Königsberg. Kant passed away on February 12, 1804, due to complications from arteriosclerosis. His final words, reportedly spoken in German, were "Es ist gut" ("It is good"), followed by "Genug" ("Enough"). Although he died in 1804, decades later, between 1879 and 1881, a collection was organized to construct a chapel as a monument. Today, as Montagud Rubio (2020) notes, his grave is located outside Kaliningrad Cathedral on the Pregolya River, one of the few German monuments preserved by the Soviets after their conquest of the city in 1945. His original grave was destroyed during Russian bombings that year.
Kant’s Foundational Works
Kant's life cannot be discussed without mentioning his works, which have profoundly influenced Western thought (Montagud Rubio, 2020). These writings are categorized into two distinct periods based on the evolution of his philosophy. During the pre-critical phase, works such as The Only Possible Basis for a Demonstration of the Existence of God (1762), Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, Explained by Dreams of Metaphysics (1766), and Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764) stand out (Montagud Rubio, 2020).
In the critical phase, Kant authored texts that left a lasting impact on modern philosophy (Montagud Rubio, 2020). These include Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (1783), Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View (1784), What is Enlightenment? (1784), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), Critique of Judgment (1790), Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (1793), Perpetual Peace (1795), The Conflict of the Faculties (1797), Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1800), and Logic (1800).
Reflections on Kant's Works
Critique of Pure Reason
In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant questions whether metaphysics—a field considered purely philosophical—could be transformed into a scientific discipline (Montagud Rubio, 2020). From his perspective, the conception and treatment of metaphysics at the time left it without a solid foundation. To advance in this direction and enable metaphysics to become scientific in the future, a critique of reason is necessary. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), this critique aims to determine the conditions of possibility and the limits of validity of human intellectual capacity in various fields of mental activity.
This work was first published in 1781, with a second edition released in 1787 that included numerous modifications (Montagud Rubio, 2020). It is considered a landmark in the history of Western philosophy, as it establishes a synthesis between two conflicting philosophical schools: empiricism and rationalism. These schools diverged in their views on how humans acquire knowledge. Empiricism asserted that knowledge is obtained through sensations and external impressions, while rationalism proposed that general rules could be identified through reason. Following the publication of Critique of Pure Reason, it was argued that investigating the problem of human knowledge is meaningless without first questioning the limits of that knowledge, which are determined by human nature itself. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), beyond this limit, it is impossible to know more.
Critique of Practical Reason
The Critique of Practical Reason, published in 1788, holds comparable importance to its predecessor and is regarded as Kant's most significant work concerning morality (Montagud Rubio, 2020). In this book, Kant seeks to determine the nature of the moral law. Obligation becomes a law imposed by reason upon the will. According to Montagud Rubio (2020), respect for this law is established as the sole driving force of action.
Critique of Judgment
The Critique of Judgment, published in 1790, is one of Kant's most original and instructive works, even though it was not part of his original conception of critical philosophy (Bird & Duignan, 2024). This work consists of two main parts: the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment and the Critique of Teleological Judgment.
In the first part, after an introduction on "logical purposiveness," Kant analyzes the notion of "aesthetic purposiveness" in judgments that attribute beauty to an object. These judgments, unlike mere expressions of taste, claim universal validity; however, they are not cognitive since they are based on feeling rather than argumentation. According to Bird & Duignan (2024), this appreciation arises from the harmony established between the imagination and understanding of the observer when contemplating an object and experiencing delight.
In the second part, Kant revisits teleology in nature, examining the existence of elements in organic bodies where the parts reciprocally act as means and ends for one another (Bird & Duignan, 2024). Mechanical principles alone cannot explain such phenomena. However, interpreting natural purposes literally could imply a supernatural designer, which would be a leap from the sensible to the supersensible—a step deemed impossible in the first Critique. Bird & Duignan (2024) state that Kant addressed this objection by acknowledging that teleological language is inevitable when considering natural phenomena but should be understood as a way of conceiving organisms "as if" they were the result of design, without necessarily implying intentional creation.
Law and the State
Law represents an aspect of human society aimed at establishing conditions that enable all individuals to enjoy personal freedom while respecting the freedom of others (Montagud Rubio, 2020). Kant analyzes individual freedom in a way that contributed to what would later be called legal positivism. He also describes the state as an entity formed through the convergence of wills expressed in laws. These laws, ideally established by the majority, are considered a legal convention: those who respect them are within the law, while those who do not are outside it. Thus, according to Montagud Rubio (2020), any dissident or contrary behavior is interpreted as outside the legal framework.
Kant’s Ethics
Kant’s thoughts on the importance of metaphysics had significant implications for ethics (Cartwright, 2024). A purely empirical explanation of the world reduces humans to reactive beings responding to external events, mere biological organisms. Kant sought to emphasize that humans, capable of autonomous thought, are moral agents possessing "free causality." This allows them to act and influence the sensory world around them. He argued that moral judgments must be based on reason rather than feelings, as proposed by other thinkers. According to Cartwright (2024), the moral value of an action lies in the intention behind it, not its outcomes, which could be accidental or unintended.
For Kant, individuals must act with good intentions rooted in a sense of moral duty grounded in reason (Cartwright, 2024). This sense of duty provides maxims to follow, such as the well-known principle: "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Kant proposed that these maxims are "categorical imperatives," meaning they are unconditional and not subject to "ifs" or "buts," as consequences are irrelevant. For example, the moral imperative "do not steal" is absolute, with no justification for exceptions. According to Cartwright (2024), one cannot excuse theft by saying, "It’s acceptable because I’m desperate right now" or "It’s fine because I won’t get caught this time."
Kant suggested that a maxim’s validity could be evaluated by asking whether it should be universalized—whether everyone should follow it (Cartwright, 2024). Thus, the maxim "never steal" passes this test, while "stealing is acceptable sometimes" does not. Another test Kant proposed is whether an action uses others merely as means to an end, since all individuals are rational beings with equal worth. Kant acknowledged that moral behavior might not yield immediate rewards (as dishonest individuals often seem to succeed). However, according to Cartwright (2024), Kant used this argument to defend the existence of an afterlife, suggesting it is the realm where moral behavior truly receives its reward.
References
Bird, O. A., & Duignan, B. (2024). Immanuel Kant. En Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Immanuel-Kant
Cartwright, M. (2024). Immanuel Kant. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Immanuel_Kant/
Guerri, M. (s. f.). Biografía de Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). PsicoActiva. Recuperado 24 de octubre de 2024, de https://www.psicoactiva.com/biografias/immanuel-kant/
Montagud Rubio, N. (2020, marzo 18). Immanuel Kant: Biografía de Este Importante Filósofo Alemán. Psicología y Mente. https://psicologiaymente.com/biografias/immanuel-kant
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