Immanuel Kant

Philosopher, Author

1724 – 1804

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Who was Immanuel Kant?

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who is widely considered to be a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that human concepts and categories structure our view of the world and its laws, and that reason is the source of morality. His thought continues to hold a major influence in contemporary thought, especially in fields such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics.

Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason, aimed to bring reason together with experience and to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were seen to support what he saw as futile theories, while resisting the skepticism of thinkers such as David Hume.

Kant stated:

It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof.

Kant proposed a "Copernican Revolution-in-reverse", saying that:

Famous Quotes:

  • Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe...
  • Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.
  • Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
  • Intuition and concepts constitute... the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without an intuition in some way corresponding to them, nor intuition without concepts, can yield knowledge.
  • It is not God's will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy
  • Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.
  • Ours is an age of criticism, to which everything must be subjected. The sacredness of religion, and the authority of legislation, are by many regarded as grounds for exemption from the examination by this tribunal, But, if they are exempted, and cannot lay claim to sincere respect, which reason accords only to that which has stood the test of a free and public examination.
  • So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
  • All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions: 1. What can I know? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I hope?
  • Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.

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Born
Apr 22, 1724
Königsberg
Also known as
  • Імануїл Кант
Parents
Ethnicity
  • Germans
Nationality
  • Kingdom of Prussia
Profession
Education
  • University of Königsberg
    Philosophy
    (1740 - 1746)
  • University of Königsberg
    Philosophy
    (1754 - )
Died
Feb 12, 1804
Königsberg

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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"Immanuel Kant." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/immanuel_kant>.

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