“Two things always fill the soul with new and ever stronger surprise and awe, the more often and longer we reflect on them - this is the starry sky above me and the moral law in me.”

Surely even those who are not at all familiar with philosophy know this quote. It's not easy beautiful words, but an expression of a philosophical system that radically influenced world thought.

We bring to your attention Immanuel Kant and this great man.

Brief biography of Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - German philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy, standing on the verge of the era of romanticism.

Born on April 22 in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad) into a poor family of an artisan saddle maker.

Kant was the fourth child in a large Christian family. His parents were Protestants and considered themselves followers of Pietism.

Pietism emphasized the personal piety of each individual, preferring strict adherence to moral rules to formal religiosity.

It was in this atmosphere that the young Immanuel Kant, who later became one of the greatest philosophers in history, was brought up.

Student years

Seeing Immanuel's unusual inclination to study, his mother sent him to the prestigious Friedrichs-Collegium gymnasium.

After graduating from high school, in 1740 he entered the theological faculty of the University of Königsberg. His mother dreams of him becoming a priest.

However, the gifted student was unable to complete his studies due to the death of his father. His mother died even earlier, so in order to somehow feed his brother and sisters, he gets a job as a home teacher in Yudshen (now Veselovka).

It was at this time, in 1747-1755, that he developed and published his cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin solar system from the original nebula.

In 1755, Kant defended his dissertation and received his doctorate. This gives him the right to teach at the university, which he has done successfully for 40 years.

Russian Koenigsberg

During the Seven Years' War from 1758 to 1762, Königsberg was under the jurisdiction of Russian government, which was reflected in the philosopher’s business correspondence.

In particular, he addressed his application for the position of ordinary professor in 1758 to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Unfortunately, the letter never reached her and was lost in the governor’s office.

The question of the department was decided in favor of another applicant on the grounds that he was older both in years and in teaching experience.

During the several years that Russian troops were in Königsberg, Kant kept several young nobles in his apartment as boarders and became acquainted with many Russian officers, among whom were many thoughtful people.

One of the officer circles invited the philosopher to give lectures on physics and physical geography.

The fact is that Immanuel Kant, after being rejected from the department, was very intensively engaged in private lessons. In order to somehow improve his modest financial situation, he even taught fortification and pyrotechnics, and also worked for several hours every day in the library.

Creativity flourishes

In 1770, the long-awaited moment came, and 46-year-old Immanuel Kant was appointed professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg, where he taught philosophy and physics.

It must be said that before this he received many offers from universities in different European cities. However, Kant categorically did not want to leave Königsberg, which gave rise to many anecdotes during the philosopher’s lifetime.

Critique of Pure Reason

It was after his professorial appointment that the “critical period” began in the life of Immanuel Kant. His fundamental works brought him worldwide fame and a reputation as one of the most outstanding European thinkers:

• "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781) - epistemology (epistemology)
• "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788) - ethics
• "Critique of Judgment" (1790) - aesthetics

It should be noted that these works had a colossal influence on the further development of world philosophical thought.

We offer you a schematic representation of Kant's theory of knowledge and his philosophical questions.

Kant's personal life

Being by nature very weak and sickly, Immanuel Kant subordinated his life to a strict daily routine. This allowed him to outlive all his friends, dying at the age of 79.

Residents of the city, knowing the characteristics of the genius living next to them, set their watches by him in the literal sense of the word. The fact is that Kant took daily walks at certain hours, accurate to the minute. The townspeople called his regular route the “philosophical path.”

They say that one day, for some reason, the philosopher went out into the street late. The people of Koenigsberg, not allowing the thought that their great contemporary could be late, set their clocks back.

Immanuel Kant was not married, although he never experienced a lack of female attention. Possessing subtle taste, impeccable manners, aristocratic grace and absolute simplicity, he was a favorite of high society.

Kant himself said this about his attitude towards women: when I wanted to have a wife, then I could not support her, and when I could, then I did not want to.

The fact is that the philosopher lived the first half of his life quite modestly, having a very low income. He bought his house (which Kant had long dreamed of) only when he was 60 years old.

Immanuel Kant ate only once a day - at lunch. Moreover, it was a real ritual. He never dined alone. As a rule, from 5 to 9 people shared a meal with him.

In general, the philosopher’s entire life was subject to strict rules and a huge number habits (or oddities), which he himself called “maxims.”

Kant believed that it was precisely this way of life that allowed one to work as fruitfully as possible. As can be seen from his biography, he was not far from the truth: almost until his old age he did not have any serious illnesses (despite his congenital frailty).

Last days of Kant

The philosopher died in 1804 at the age of 79. Not all admirers of the outstanding thinker want to admit this fact, but there is indisputable evidence that towards the end of his life Kant exhibited senile dementia.

Despite this, until his death, both representatives of university circles and ordinary townspeople treated him with great respect.

Interesting facts from the life of Immanuel Kant

1. In terms of the scale of his philosophical works, Kant is on a par with Plato and Aristotle.
2. Immanuel Kant refuted those written by Thomas Aquinas and former long time in absolute authority, and then came to his own, . An interesting fact is that so far no one has been able to refute it. in the famous work “The Master and Margarita”, through the mouth of one character, he gives Kant’s proof, to which another character replies: “If only I could take this Kant, but for such proof he will be sent to Solovki for three years.” The phrase became a catchphrase.
3. As we have already said, Kant ate only once a day, and the rest of the time he made do with tea or coffee. I went to bed at 22:00 and always got up at 5 in the morning.
4. This fact can hardly be confirmed, but there is a story about how students once invited a chaste teacher to a brothel. After that, when they asked him about his impressions, he answered: “Many vain small movements.”
5. An unpleasant fact. Despite his highly moral way of thinking and the pursuit of ideals in all spheres of life, Kant showed anti-Semitism.
6. Kant wrote: “Have the courage to use your own mind - this is the motto of the Enlightenment.”
7. Kant was quite short in stature - only 157 cm (for comparison, who was also considered short, had a height of 166 cm).
8. When he came to power in Germany, the fascists were very proud of Kant, calling him a true Aryan.
9. Immanuel Kant knew how to dress up with taste. He called fashion a matter of vanity, but at the same time added: “It is better to be a fool in fashion than a fool out of fashion.”
10. The philosopher often made fun of women, although he was friendly with them. He jokingly claimed that the path to heaven was closed to women and cited as evidence a passage from the Apocalypse, where it is said that after the ascension of the righteous, silence reigned in heaven for half an hour. And this, according to Kant, would be completely impossible if even one woman were among the saved.
11. Kant was the fourth child in a family of 11 children. Six of them died in childhood.
12. Students said that while lecturing, Immanuel Kant had a habit of fixing his gaze on one listener. One day he fixed his gaze on a young man whose coat was missing a button. This was immediately noticeable, causing Kant to become absent-minded and confused. Ultimately, he gave a very unsuccessful lecture.
13. Not far from Kant's house there was a city prison. To correct morals, prisoners were forced to sing spiritual chants for several hours a day. The philosopher was so tired of this singing that he wrote a letter to the burgomaster, asking him to take measures “to stop the scandal” against “the loud piety of these bigots.”
14. Based on prolonged self-observation and self-hypnosis, Immanuel Kant developed his own “Hygiene” program. Here are its main points:

• Keep your head, legs and chest cold. Wash your feet in ice water (so as not to weaken the blood vessels away from the heart).
• Sleep less (bed is a nest of diseases). Sleep only at night, short and deep sleep. If sleep does not come on its own, you need to be able to induce it (the word “Cicero” had a soporific effect on Kant - repeating it obsessively to himself, he quickly fell asleep).
• Move more, take care of yourself, walk in any weather.

Now you know everything about Immaniel Kant that any educated person should know, and even more.

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Born into a poor family of a saddlemaker. The boy was named after Saint Immanuel, translated as biblical name means “God is with us.” Under the care of Doctor of Theology Franz Albert Schulz, who noticed talent in Immanuel, Kant graduated from the prestigious Friedrichs-Collegium gymnasium and then entered the University of Königsberg. Due to the death of his father, he is unable to complete his studies and, in order to support his family, Kant becomes a home teacher for 10 years. It was at this time, in 1747-55, that he developed and published a cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the Solar system from the primordial nebula, which has not lost its relevance to this day.

Being in poor health, Kant subjected his life to a strict regime, which allowed him to outlive all his friends. His accuracy in following the schedule became the talk of the town even among punctual Germans and gave rise to many sayings and anecdotes. He was not married, saying that when he wanted to have a wife, he could not support her, and when he could, he did not want to...

Books (15)

Prolegomena to any future metaphysics

There are scientists for whom the very history of philosophy (both ancient and modern) is their philosophy; our prolegomena were not written for them. They should wait until those who try to draw from the sources of reason itself have finished their work, then it will be their turn to inform the world about what has happened.

Collected works

Collected works of the prominent representative of German classical philosophy of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant.
The collected works included:
Collected works vol. 1 -6
The question of whether the Earth is aging from a physical point of view
Critique of Practical Reason
Criticism of judgment
Critique of Pure Reason
Fundamentals of the metaphysics of morality
Prolegomena to any future metaphysics that may emerge as a science

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 1

This collection of works is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of Kant’s election as a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The anniversary edition is distinguished by its completeness: it practically contains everything significant that was published in Russian.

The first volume of the anniversary Collected Works of Kant contains works of the so-called “pre-critical” period. The main one is “General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens,” dedicated to the cosmogonic hypothesis. The work “Physical Monadology” is given in a translation by P. Florensky, more accurate than the translation contained in the previous edition. The volume contains a new introduction and new notes.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 2

The second volume of the anniversary edition continues the publication of Kant’s “pre-critical” works. This included “Observations on the feeling of the sublime and beautiful”, “Dreams of a spirit seer”, a dissertation “on the form and principles of the sensory and intelligible world”, etc.

A comparison of the translation of the draft notes in the author’s copy of “Observations...” with the latest publication of the original led to a radical correction of the Russian text, which is now given not as an independent work, but only as everyday notes characteristic of Kant.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 3

The third volume of the anniversary edition is entirely devoted to Kant’s main work, the Critique of Pure Reason. The classic translation of N. Lossky has been restored, as far as possible.

The translation has been scrupulously checked against the original and the necessary terminological clarifications have been added. The text of the second lifetime edition of Kant’s work is traditionally reproduced; significant excerpts from the first edition are given in the appendices. In both cases, the pagination of the first editions is given in the margins (which is usually used to provide references in Kant studies literature). The notes have been rewritten and significantly expanded.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 4

The fourth volume of the anniversary edition contains four books by Kant, published after the Critique of Pure Reason.

These are the “Prolegomena,” which are a summary of the main ideas of Kant’s main work; “Fundamentals of the Metaphysics of Morals” is the first major work on ethics; “Metaphysical Principles of Natural Science,” a work showing Kant’s keen interest in the theoretical problems of natural science; "Critique of Practical Reason", developing Kant's ideas in the ethical sphere. The translations have been rechecked against the original, and the notes to the work on the philosophy of natural science have been written anew.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 5

The fifth volume of the anniversary edition is devoted to aesthetics and cultural theory. It contains the Critique of Judgment, Kant's main work in this area, which serves as a link between the theory of knowledge and the theory of morality. A new translation of the work is given, in which gross errors that hindered the understanding of the philosopher’s fundamental ideas are eliminated.

The “First Introduction to the Critique of Judgment,” which was published only posthumously, is published as an appendix. Kant's aesthetic works are of independent interest to all those working in this field.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 6

The sixth volume of the anniversary edition covers two of Kant’s works - “Religion within the Limits of Reason Only” and “Metaphysics of Morals”. The first analyzes only the philosophical problems of religion, but contains the most important part of Kant's ethical theory.

“Metaphysics of Morals” is the final work on the philosophy of law and morality; the work is published in the traditional form, at the same time (in the notes) the results of the latest textual studies are presented, which introduce the form in which the manuscript came from Kant’s pen and what transformation it underwent during the first publication.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 7

The seventh volume of the anniversary edition introduces the reader to Kant's later book publications.

The greatest success was enjoyed by the small brochure “Towards Eternal Peace” - an example of philosophical journalism, as if addressed in our days, when the issue of preventing war has become extremely relevant. “Dispute of Faculties” is also philosophical journalism; The book combines three works - on the philosophy of religion, on the philosophy of history and on the “system of health”, which Kant strictly adhered to, overcoming all the ailments that threatened him.

“Anthropology” is the final work on the philosophy of man. The appendices publish an unfinished manuscript on the successes of metaphysics, written for a competition in which Kant wanted to take part.

Collected Works in eight volumes. Volume 8

The eighth volume completes the anniversary edition of Kant. This included articles written after 1781 and appearing in the periodical press.

Next are two courses of lectures: “Logic”, “On Pedagogy”, selected letters and rough sketches. Among the latter, a significant place is occupied by the manuscript “On the transition based on a priori principles from the metaphysical principles of natural science to physics,” on which Kant worked in last years.

As in the previous Collected Works, a significant excerpt from this work is given. Translations of a number of articles included in the volume were previously published in “Cantonese Collections” (Kaliningrad).

Critique of Practical Reason

Kant's second work after the Critique of Pure Reason, which sets out his teaching on morality - critical ethics or metaphysics of morals.

In the preface, Kant explains that his research must prove the existence of pure practical reason and carry out a critique of its practical ability, with the assumption of which transcendental freedom in its absolute meaning acquires a solid foundation.

Critique of Pure Reason

The criticism of pure reason includes everything that constitutes the content of transcendental philosophy: it is the complete idea of ​​transcendental philosophy, but not yet this science itself, because it goes into analysis only to the extent necessary for a full assessment of a priori synthetic knowledge.

Translation from German by N. O. Lossoky.

Reader comments

Fedor/ 05/05/2018 Kant’s main works will be relevant for humanity for millions of years to come. The main conclusions from his Critique are very relevant today, especially in Russia.
"Critique of Pure Reason", Kant's main work, is devoted to epistemology - the science of knowing truth. What is truth and how knowable is it? Kant concluded that truth is unknowable by pure reason. That is, rational knowledge. Without contact with the Spirit, in which the soul, psyche receives intuition, consciousness, it is impossible to know the essence of things - the truth.
Without spirituality, holiness, a person has misrepresentation about the world, does not see Reality as it really is. This leads to insanity in society, a violation of logic, degradation and decline, and obscurantism. The role of knowledge, sciences, philosophy, and art is decreasing. Idealism rules the roost. What we observed in the Middle Ages, what is happening in Russia now. This situation is well described in L. Carroll's book "Alice in Wonderland".
To know the truth you need 3 things:
1. Knowledge of predecessors on this topic
2. Personal experience on this topic
3. Developed intuition
Although Kant was criticized in Soviet ideology and Marxism, his works were nevertheless published and translated. 6 volumes of his works were published.
Also, the concept of knowledge of truth, accepted in Soviet ideology, Lenin’s theory of reflection did not include the role of intuition, nevertheless, the role of intuition in Soviet philosophy was supported.
Jaspers continued Kant's work in the 20th century. His three-volume philosophy continues Kant's epistemology. In fact, this is dialectical logic, which was developed in Soviet ideology.

Yuri/ 05/3/2017 BRAVE READER / 03/8/2016
Brave reader: “Both he and Hegel become clever and, like all Nords, rape the brain with the tricks of garbage reasoning and various mental tricks.”
Life is hard for you after being collectively raped by two Nords. It would be necessary to send a complaint against them to the Hague Tribunal, and demand lifelong compensation from the Germans for the desecrated and mutilated organ of thinking.

Yuri/ 05/03/2017 “brave reader” Why am I obliged to contemplate life through the prism of this thinker if my inner world yearns for a deeper knowledge of Things. Yes, yes, yes, you can bend your lips as you like, but the world-famous Agni Yoga is considered on the planet to be the Newest Testament and What is there is not anywhere, since this is the culmination of all world philosophies, understand. You mentioned Bruce here. I read his books 👍👍👍. Extremely useful for any man. YOU STILL NEED TO GROW UP INTERNALLY. THIS IS NOT KANTANISM OR HEGELISM, BUT THIS IS LIFE ITSELF
Actually healthy people contemplate life without any prisms. Secondly, no one obliges you to contemplate anything through any prisms, especially Kant, if only because he is a philosopher, not an ophthalmologist, and died long ago.

Yuri/ 05/3/2017 "BRAVE READER"
If you are still growing up to the Roerichs, then you will not have enough time or abilities to reach Kant. Nevertheless, good luck to you and less conceit.

Stas/ 12/5/2016 Mamardashvilli has an interesting and fascinating book, Kantian variations. I'm trying to approach the edge. In particular, the first one recommends reading his books in parallel in order to understand them. The edging is complicated.

Lyudmila/ 12/4/2016 Gentlemen! Everyone can have their own opinion. But, in order to have different knowledge, it is necessary to read (get acquainted with) Kant as well. You may like him or, on the contrary, not, but you need to get to know him. For general development. Good luck.

Alexander/ 05/29/2016 Everyone has the opportunity to formulate a simple, straightforward, easy-to-understand incorrect judgment about Kant or Hegel.

Grandfather Volodya/ 05/20/2016 In vodka veritas - that’s the whole philosophy. Gentlemen, take a couple of good glasses, at ease, with feeling, with sense, with arrangement... A light snack: sauerkraut, prasol herring, meat, black bread with onions... And the temporal lobes will tense up and relax, and you will know the truth in concepts and laws that you yourself will create! And threads will stretch from your subconscious to the categories of “Discourse on Method”, and “Critique of Pure Reason”, and many, many other great books - even those that you have not yet read, and those that no one has yet written! And with “regular repeated exercise,” the path to the inner horizon of the black hole is open to you and you will join the secrets and goodness of the singularity!

Brave Reader/ 03/16/2016 “Being in poor health, Kant subordinated his life to a strict regime, which allowed him to outlive all his friends. His accuracy in following the schedule became the talk of the town even among punctual Germans and gave rise to many sayings and anecdotes. He was not married, saying that when he wanted to have a wife, he could not support her, and when he could, he did not want to..." site

You see. Mental deviations are obvious. Not all philosophers can be liked by a reasonable and thoughtful person. Critical thinking is often soul-saving.

Svetlana Grigorievna/ 03/16/2016 It’s better to read “Healthy Lifestyle”.
There will be more benefits.

Mteck057/ 03/16/2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0-1SjzlPk Hegel himself said: “ONLY ONE PERSON CAN UNDERSTAND MY PHILOSOPHY, AND HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND ME.” Then why did he and Kant have so many futile efforts? The Germans always complicate everything, split it up, categorize it. Everything is simpler, my friends, everything is much simpler.

Brave Reader/ 03/16/2016 Let's remember English. Can"t means I CAN’T.
What else can we talk about?
Here's the wisdom:
http://www.proza.ru/avtor/supermundane777

BRAVE READER/ 03/16/2016 For Gloom only: YOU HERE ALLOWED YOURSELF TO CROAC ABOUT “WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND!” YOU, Mister GLOOM (Gloomy), IT IS IN VIEW OF THIS FACT THAT YOU LIKE ALL NORDSKYPATALOGICAL BS. IT IS YOU THAT DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT PHILOSOPHY, IF FOR YOU "SOME ROERICS". DON'T BE A STUPID LOOK LIKE SOMETHING OGO FROM MAIDAN . There are more people here, I guarantee it.

BRAVE READER/ 03/16/2016 Raise your hands now, those whom the comrade whose books are presented here made happy with his philosophy? Why am I obliged to contemplate life through the prism of this thinker if my inner world yearns for a deeper knowledge of Things. Yes, yes, yes, you can bend your lips as you like, but the world-famous Agni Yoga is considered on the planet to be the Newest Testament and What is there is not anywhere, since this is the culmination of all world philosophies, understand. You mentioned Bruce here. I read his books 👍👍👍. Extremely useful for any man. YOU STILL NEED TO GROW UP INTERNALLY. THIS IS NOT KANTANISM OR HEGELISM, BUT THIS IS LIFE ITSELF.

Greetings to new and regular readers! Gentlemen, let's continue to get acquainted with the stories successful people. In the article “Immanuel Kant: short biography, interesting facts" about the main stages of the life of the famous German scientist.

Immanuel Kant: biography

He was born on April 22 (zodiac sign - Taurus) 1724 in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad), where his grandfather emigrated from Scotland. At that time it was a very cosmopolitan city. Kant's parents were devout Lutherans of modest means.

Immanuel was the fourth child in the family. He grew up with his younger brother, an older sister and two younger sisters in a working-class area in the suburbs of Königsberg among laborers, small shopkeepers and craftsmen. Like his father, he was not in good health.

His mother died in 1737. The boy stood out among his peers, especially in studying Greek and Latin. Already at the age of 13, the young man showed signs of his legendary persistence; he was single-minded in his learning.

In 1740, at the age of 16, he entered the University of Königsberg. Here he met talented professors who opened up the world of philosophical and scientific thought to the young scientist.

About the modest life of a great scientist

Over the next 7 years, Immanuel not only deepened his study of mathematics, he also continued his passion for the methodology of various sciences. In 1746, his father died, and Kant realized that he could not complete his studies because he had no funds.

He left his hometown (in 1747) and began teaching children from wealthy families in Yudshen (now the village of Veselovka). The young scientist also devoted most of his time to working on his dissertation. In 1755 he received the degree of privatdozent.

The position of adjunct assistant professor, which he held for the next fifteen years, was not profitable. The scientist was forced to live on the small money that students paid him. In the end, he was forced to work as an assistant librarian for several hours a week in the library of the royal castle.

Kant could only afford a small room with modest living conditions. After lecturing on geography, mineralogy, physics, pedagogy, anthropology and philosophy, he enjoyed reading newspapers over a cup of coffee.

Sometimes he relaxed, playing billiards or cards, and occasionally drank one or two glasses of beer with friends. In the evening, Kant returned to his room to his table, chair, bed and a few selected books. The only thing that adorned its walls was a portrait of the French theorist J.-J. Rousseau.

Philosophy of Immanuel Kant

Kant's judgment in this early period of his life was influenced by the provocative ideas of Rousseau and the rationalism of Leibniz. But he was also deeply shocked by the achievements of the scientist and theologian. At that time, Newton's work had just begun to be studied at the University of Königsberg.

Soon the scientist published several books and many essays on metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic and other sciences, including astronomy. Kant used Newton's principles in his hypothesis of the primordial nebula, which best explained the origin of the universe and has not lost its relevance to this day.

In 1764, Kant published his Study of the Clarity of the Principles of Natural Theology and Morals. He views religious worship as “idolatry.” He is sure that religion as a state institution corrupts people and gives rise to hypocrisy.

The work shows that Kant understood the limits of the rationalist: in particular, he began to sense the inadequacies of the logical demonstrations made by rationalists such as Wolff, who assumed that the delivery of a false proposition necessarily implied that the proposition in dispute must be true.

Kant's premonitions indicate that even in the early period of his creativity he was already moving towards a dialectical understanding of truth, which would later become his method of thinking.

Kant became a very famous teacher. He was a popular professor among students not only because his lively teaching method included provocative ideas, but also because of his humor. The effectiveness of his teaching and his strong reputation as an interesting author attracted many students to Königsberg.

Alma mater

In 1770 (when Kant was 46 years old) his alma mater accepted him as a full member of the faculty: he was confirmed as professor of logic and metaphysics. He continued to work at the University of Königsberg for the next 27 years, becoming its rector in 1786.

Königsberg University

At the age of 57, the philosopher completed his greatest work, A Critique of Pure Reason. His work is dialectical and subtle; on the one hand, this makes “pure reason” the subject of critical analysis, and on the other, it is the use of “pure reason” for development in accordance with demands.

Kant's main idea is that the mind plays an active role in structuring reality. The mind gives the structure of objects because they must conform to the structure of the mind in order to be perceived first.

Kant rejects the ideas of dogmatic metaphysical rationalists (Spinoza, Leibniz) and the skepticism of empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume). It uses an unusual method of analyzing judgments and methodologies.

Kant divided his philosophy into 4 parts (questions):

1. What do I know? (metaphysics);
2. What should I do? (morality)
3. What do I dare hope for (religion);
4. What is a person? (anthropology).

last years of life

The philosopher Immanuel Kant is undoubtedly one of the most famous thinkers in the world. For example, in his monumental work, The Critique of Pure Reason, he showed how the mind's cognitive abilities can be used to determine the limits of these very abilities.

His life is of interest to neurologists for several reasons: he had a specific personality type; he suffered from headaches; died with dementia. Kant was a man of legendary calm and pedantry.

For example, his morning walks always took place at the same time. Residents said that they could synchronize their watches when he passed nearby.

He always walked the same route and even walked the same number of steps. He suffered from headaches that were probably migraines. It has long been thought that people with obsessive personality types often suffer from migraines. And in the last years of his life, Kant showed clear signs of dementia.

Various causes were considered, such as vascular dementia or a slow-growing tumor such as frontal meningioma. Because he had cognitive impairment, hallucinations and repeated loss of consciousness.

The philosopher was never married. His name can be found in the list of famous Kant died on February 12, 1804. He was 79 years old. Many geniuses had symptoms of mental illness.

Immanuel Kant: short biography and philosophy (video):

Immanuel Kant is the founder of German classical idealism. He lived all his life in Königsberg (East Prussia, now Kaliningrad Russian Federation), taught at a local university for many years. The range of his scientific interests was not limited to purely philosophical problems. He also proved himself to be an outstanding natural scientist.

Kant's main works

• "General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens" (1755)
• "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781)
• "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788)
• "Critique of Judgment" (1790).

IN scientific activity Kant usually distinguishes pre-critical and critical periods. The pre-critical period of Kant's activity falls on the 50s and 60s of the 18th century. At this time, he was mainly engaged in researching a number of natural science problems related to astronomy and biology. In 1755, his book “General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens” was published, which outlined his hypothesis of the emergence of the Solar System from an initial hot dusty nebula (the so-called Kant-Laplace hypothesis). In this hypothesis, the entire ideological part belongs to Kant, and the mathematical assessment of the possibility of such a process and the stability of the emerging planetary system belongs to the French mathematician P. Laplace. This hypothesis existed in astronomy until the middle of the last century, when cosmologists had the modern concept of the “big bang” at their disposal.

During the same period, Kant established that, under the influence of the Moon’s gravity, the Earth’s daily rotation slows down, and ultimately (in about 4-5 billion years according to modern ideas) this will lead to the Earth forever turning one side to the Sun, and its other side will plunge into eternal darkness. Another important achievement of Kant’s pre-critical period was the hypothesis he put forward about the natural origin of human races (Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids), which was later fully confirmed.

During the critical period that began in the 70s, Kant primarily focused on epistemological issues - on the study of the possibilities and abilities of man to understand the world around him, and also conducted serious research in the field of ethics and aesthetics. By criticism during this period he understood the establishment of the boundaries to which the abilities of reason and other forms of knowledge extend. Kant was not satisfied with the solutions to epistemological problems either in the philosophical empiricism of the New Age or in rationalism. The first is unable to explain the necessary nature of the laws and principles cognizable by man, the second neglects the role of experience in knowledge.

Kant's theory of knowledge

Apriorism. Solving the problem of substantiating scientific, including philosophical knowledge, Kant came to the conclusion that although all our knowledge begins with experience, moreover, none of our knowledge precedes experience in time, it does not follow from this that it comes entirely from experience. “It is quite possible that even our experimental knowledge consists of what we perceive through impressions, and of what our cognitive faculty ... gives from itself.” In this regard, he distinguishes a priori knowledge (independent of any experience, preceding any specific experience) and empirical, a posteriori knowledge, the source of which is entirely experience. Examples of the former are the provisions of mathematics and many provisions of natural science. For example, the position that “every change must have a cause.” A striking example of an a priori concept, according to Kant, is the philosophical concept of substance, to which we arrive speculatively, gradually excluding from the concept of body “everything that is empirical in it: color, hardness or softness, weight, impenetrability...”.

Analytical and synthetic judgments. Synthetic a priori. Kant was well aware of traditional logic, in which the structural unit of thought was always considered to be a judgment (a logical form expressed in language by a declarative sentence). Each judgment has its own subject (subject of thought) and predicate (what is said in this judgment about its subject). In this case, the relationship of the subject to the predicate can be twofold. In some cases, the content of the predicate is implied in the content of the subject; and the predicate of judgment does not add to us any new knowledge about the subject, but only performs an explanatory function. Kant calls such judgments analytical, for example, the judgment that all bodies are extended. In other cases, the content of the predicate enriches the knowledge of the subject, and the predicate performs an expanding function in the judgment. Kant calls such judgments synthetic, for example, the judgment that all bodies have heaviness.

All empirical judgments are synthetic, but the opposite, says Kant, is not true. In his opinion, and this is the most important point in Kant’s philosophical teaching, there are synthetic a priori judgments in mathematics, natural science and metaphysics (i.e. in philosophy and theology). And Kant formulates his main task in the Critique of Pure Reason, his main philosophical work, as follows: to answer the question “how are a priori synthetic judgments possible?”

According to Kant, this is possible due to the fact that in our head there are a priori (transcendental) forms of rational activity. Namely, in mathematics, which is entirely a collection of synthetic a priori truths, there are a priori forms of space and time. “Geometry is based on the “pure” contemplation of space. Arithmetic creates the concepts of its numbers by successive addition of units over time; but in particular pure mechanics can create its concepts of motion only through the idea of ​​time.” This is how he argues for the synthetic nature of the elementary arithmetic truth that 7 + 5 = 12: “At first glance, it may seem that 7 + 5 = 12 is a purely analytical judgment arising ... from the concept of the sum of seven and five. However, taking a closer look, we find that the concept of the sum of 7 and 5 contains only the combination of these two numbers into one, and from this it is not at all possible to imagine what the number is that covers both terms. It is true that I thought of the fact that 5 had to be added to 7 in terms of the sum = 7 + 5, but I did not think of the fact that this sum was equal to twelve. Consequently, the given arithmetic judgment is always synthetic...”

The use of four groups of philosophical categories (quality, quantity, relation and modality) is associated with natural science: “... reason does not draw its laws (a priori) from nature, but prescribes them to it... This is how pure rational concepts appeared... it is only they... that can constitute everything our knowledge of things from pure reason. I called them, naturally, the old name of the categories...” In metaphysics, the most important role is played by the ideas of the world (“cosmological idea”), soul (“psychological idea”) and God (“theological idea”): “Metaphysics deals with pure concepts of the mind, which are never given in any possible experience... under By ideas I mean necessary concepts, the subject of which ... cannot be given in any experience.” With his teaching about synthetic a priori truths, Kant actually denies the presence in our heads of purely empirical, experimental knowledge, not “clouded” by any rational processing, and thereby shows the inconsistency of the forms of empiricism that existed in his time.

The doctrine of the “thing-in-itself”. Kant believed that in knowledge only the world of “phenomena” (phenomena) is accessible to man. In particular, nature consists of phenomena and only of them. However, hidden behind the phenomena are incomprehensible, inaccessible to knowledge, external to it (transcendental to it) “things-in-themselves”, examples of which are, among others, “the world as a whole”, “soul”, “god” (as the unconditional cause of all causally determined phenomena). By asserting the unknowability of “things in themselves,” Kant limited knowledge to one degree or another.

Kant's doctrine of antinomies

What, according to Kant, prevents reason from going beyond the world of phenomena and reaching the “thing-in-itself”? The answer to this question should be sought in the peculiarities of reason, which are revealed in the famous Kantian doctrine of antinomies. Antinomies are judgments that contradict each other (“thesis” and “antithesis”), in each pair of contradictory judgments one is a negation of the other, and at the same time the mind is not able to make a choice in favor of one of them. First of all, Kant points out the following four antinomies in which our mind becomes hopelessly entangled as soon as it tries to go beyond the world of phenomena: “1. Thesis: The world has a beginning (border) in time and space. Antithesis: The world in time and space is infinite. 2. Thesis: Everything in the world consists of simple (indivisible). Antithesis: Nothing is simple, but everything is complex. 3. Thesis: There are free causes in the world. Antithesis: There is no freedom, everything is nature (i.e. necessity). 4. Thesis: Among the world's causes there is a certain necessary being (i.e. God - ed.). Antithesis: In this series there is nothing necessary, but everything is accidental.” The history of philosophy includes a significant number of antinomies (paradoxes), but all of them were of a logical nature and arose as a result of logical errors committed by the mind. Kant’s antinomies are of an epistemological rather than logical nature - they, in Kant’s opinion, arise as a result of the unfounded claims of reason to know “things in themselves,” in particular, the world as such: “When we... imagine the phenomena of the sensory world as things themselves in itself... then a contradiction is suddenly revealed... and the mind thus sees itself in discord with itself.”

Modern science provides vivid examples of the emergence in theoretical natural science of antinomies in the sense of Kant, to overcome which requires a complete restructuring of the conceptual foundation of the corresponding theories. This is the antinomy of the ether hypothesis in the special theory of relativity, the gravitational and photometric paradoxes in general theory relativity, “Maxwell’s demons”, etc.

The concept of reason and reason in Kant's philosophy

The most important role in Kant’s philosophical teachings is played by the concepts of understanding and reason, rational and reasonable thinking. He brings the distinction between these concepts, which to a certain extent took place in the past in Aristotle (the distinction between theoretical and practical reason), among the philosophers of the Renaissance (N. Cusanus and G. Bruno), to their opposition as thinking, subject to certain rules, canons and in this sense, dogmatized, and creative thinking, going beyond any canons. “A person finds in himself an ability that distinguishes him, and this is reason. Reason is pure self-activity above even understanding... [which] through its activity can form only such concepts that serve only to bring sensory representations under rules and thereby unite them in consciousness... Reason shows, under the name of ideas, such pure spontaneity that thanks to it, he goes far beyond everything that sensuality can give him, and fulfills his most important task by distinguishing the sensually perceived world from the intelligible, thereby showing the understanding itself its boundaries.” A further step in the study of rational and reasonable thinking was made by G. Hegel, in whom reason appears as truly philosophical, dialectical thinking.

Kant's ethics

Kant’s teaching on morality is set out in the work “Critique of Practical Reason” (1788), as well as in his work, published in 1797, “Metaphysics of Morals”, where Kant’s ethical concept appears in a more strict and complete form.

The meaning of Kantian philosophy is that Kant is looking for clear arguments to substantiate scientific knowledge, philosophy, and the construction of a rational human life. This task seems most difficult when developing ethical teaching, since the sphere of morality and human behavior contains many manifestations of subjectivism. Nevertheless, in order to streamline the problem of consciousness, Kant makes a brilliant attempt to formulate a moral law that would be objective in nature. The problem of reasonableness human life he makes it the subject of special analysis - and this is reflected in his ethical concept.

The essence and specificity of practical reason

Kant in his philosophical system distinguishes between the concepts of theoretical and practical reason. As was shown earlier, theoretical reason operates in the sphere of pure ideas and exclusively within the framework of strict necessity. By practical reason, the philosopher understands the area of ​​human behavior in Everyday life, the world of his moral activities and actions. Here practical reason can operate at the level of empirical experience, often going beyond strict necessity and enjoying freedom. As Kant points out, in the sphere of practical reason, “we have extended our knowledge beyond the limits of this sensible world, although the criticism of pure reason declared this claim invalid.”

This becomes possible because man, according to Kant, belongs to both the sensually perceived (phenomenal) and the intelligible (noumenal) world. As a “phenomenon,” a person is subject to necessity, external causality, the laws of nature, and social attitudes, but as a “thing-in-itself,” he may not be subject to such strict determination and act freely.

Showing the difference between pure, theoretical reason and practical reason, Kant insists on the primacy of practical reason over theoretical reason, since, in his opinion, knowledge has value only when it helps a person gain strong moral foundations. Thus, he shows that the human mind is capable not only of knowledge, but also of moral action, thereby raising morality to the level of action.

Kant points out that in previous ethical theories, morality was derived from principles external to it: the will of God, the moral attitudes of society, various empirical conditions - this Kant calls “heteronomy of the will.” The novelty of his approach lies in the fact that practical reason determines the will autonomously; “Autonomy” of morality means the fundamental independence and intrinsic value of moral principles. He writes: “The autonomy of the will consists in the fact that the will itself prescribes a law for itself - this is the only principle of the moral law.” That is, for Kant, a person is not only a morally active being, but also a person responsible for his actions.

Kant's ethical categories

Kant believes that moral concepts are not derived from experience, they are a priori and embedded in the human mind. In his ethical concept, he explores the most important and complex categories of morality: good will, freedom, duty, conscience, happiness and others.

The original concept of Kant's ethics is autonomous good will, which he calls an unconditional good, as well as a value that surpasses any price. Good will is a prerequisite, basis, motive for a person’s theoretical and practical choice in the sphere of morality. This is the free choice of a person, the source of human dignity, which separates him as a person from other beings of the material world. But such freedom is also fraught with danger: a person’s will can be subordinated not only to reason, but also to feelings, therefore there cannot be a complete guarantee of the morality of actions. It is necessary to form morality in the process of upbringing and self-education of a person, but since it is impossible to foresee everything in life, then, according to Kant, people can be instilled with an inclination and aspiration for good.

The philosopher calls the concept of freedom the key to explaining and understanding the autonomy of good will. But how is the freedom of a rational being possible in a world where necessity rules? Kant's concept of freedom is directly related to the concept of duty. That is why, having first turned to theoretical reason and answered the question “What can I know?”, the philosopher moves on to practical reason and poses the question “What should I do?” He comes to the conclusion that a person’s free choice is determined solely by the dictates of duty. “I must” for Kant means the same as “I am free.” Man, as a being “gifted with inner freedom, is a being capable of taking on obligations... and can recognize a debt to himself.” Therefore, only duty gives an action a moral character, only duty is the only moral motive.

The German philosopher examines in detail the concept of debt and considers different kinds a person's duty: to himself and to other people. Among the main goals of man, which at the same time represent his duty and are based on a priori principles, Kant singles out “his own perfection and the happiness of others.” This is precisely what the author of “Metaphysics of Morals” insists on, since, for example, one’s own happiness can also be a goal, but by no means a person’s duty, because “duty is coercion towards a reluctantly accepted goal.” And happiness is something that everyone inevitably desires for themselves. Achieving one's own happiness cannot be a duty, since this is an ideal not of reason, but of imagination, and the idea of ​​it is based not on a priori, but on empirical principles. Every person has many desires, but Kant asks the question: will their fulfillment lead to happiness? Also a very difficult problem is the happiness of another, because no one can force him to be happy and imagine what the other person understands by this. Despite all the complexity and delicacy of the approach to happiness as the most important ethical category, Kant still examines it in detail and, ultimately, connects happiness with human virtues.

But, turning to the question of a person’s own perfection, Kant is categorical - this is the goal and at the same time the duty of everyone. The perfection of man consists not in what he has received as a gift from nature, but in what can be the result of his efforts and actions in accordance with reason. In this regard, the philosopher identifies two points: the desire for the physical perfection of man as a natural being and “increasing one’s moral perfection in a purely moral sense.” Of course, a person must take care to get out of the primitiveness of his nature, from the state of animality. These goals include: - self-preservation; - procreation, when passion is in unity with moral love, - maintaining one’s physical condition.

But for Kant, the absolute priority is moral perfection, “the culture of morality in us.” He writes: “The greatest moral perfection of a person is this: to fulfill one’s duty, and, moreover, for reasons of duty (so that the law is not only the rule, but also the motive for actions).” This extremely important provision of Kant’s ethics requires from a person not only a moral act, but a moral motive for the action, because a person can do a “good deed,” for example, for reasons of his own benefit, or based on immoral grounds. Speaking about a person’s duty to himself as a moral being, Kant contrasts it with the vices of lying, stinginess, and servility. At the same time, he formulates main principle a person’s relationship to himself: know yourself not by your physical perfection, but by your moral perfection, because moral self-knowledge, penetrating into the depths, the “abyss” of the heart, is the beginning of all human wisdom.

As for a person’s duties to other people, Kant also identifies mutual obligations: love, friendship, and those that contribute to the happiness of others, but do not require reciprocity - the duty of charity, gratitude, participation, respect. At the same time, the philosopher emphasizes that, ultimately, a duty to other people is a person’s duty to himself, the fulfillment of which helps to move towards one’s own perfection. Such a gradual, progressive movement towards perfection is man’s most perfect duty to himself, and, as a commandment, Kant repeats: “Be perfect!”

The categorical imperative as a moral law

Based on a critical analysis of human cognition and behavior, Kant tries to find a moral law subordinate to reason. He believes that in human life goals are set by reason in any case, and here it is not subject to such contradictions as in the field of theory. Moreover, in the sphere of practical reason, ordinary reason can come to “correctness and thoroughness”: in order to be honest, kind, wise and virtuous, “we do not need any science or philosophy.” If the mind and feelings are in harmony, then there is no conflict between them, otherwise a person should give preference to the mind. According to Kant, to act morally means to act rationally, even if sometimes under the compulsion of the will. Therefore, the principles of human behavior are never determined empirically, but are always based on the activity of the mind, exist a priori and do not depend on experimental data.

The creation of reasonable human relations is possible on the basis of duties, a person’s duty to fulfill the moral law, which is valid for every individual under any circumstances. Along with general practical principles, as Kant points out, there are always many particular rules, so he divides practical principles into “maxims” and “imperatives.”

Maxims are personal, subjective principles of behavior, that is, those considerations or motives that prompt a person to action, and relate to specific individuals. For example, the maxim “revenge every injury done” can be realized in different ways depending on a variety of objective and subjective conditions. Or a person's duty to take care of his own health may involve different ways to achieve this goal.

Imperative is an objective principle of behavior, a moral law that is significant for everyone. Kant distinguishes two types of imperatives: hypothetical and categorical. He writes: “If an action is good for something else as a means, then we are dealing with a hypothetical imperative; if it is presented as good in itself... then the imperative is categorical.”

The hypothetical imperative defines the will subject to the presence of certain goals: for example, “if you want to succeed, work hard to learn,” or “if you want to become a champion, pump up your muscles,” “if you want a carefree old age, learn to save.” These imperatives have objective force for everyone who is interested in these goals; exceptions are possible in their application.

Categorical imperative- this is an objective, universal, unconditional, necessary moral law, and it is the duty of every person, without exception, to fulfill it. This law is the same for everyone, but Kant gives it in several formulations in his works. One of them says that although maxims are subjective principles of behavior, they must also always have universal meaning. In this case, the categorical imperative sounds like this: “act only in accordance with such a maxim, guided by which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law.” Another formulation is associated with Kant’s idea of ​​the human person as an absolute and unconditional value, standing above all: “act in such a way that you always treat humanity, both in yourself and in the person of everyone else, as an end and never treat it only as a means."

Acting in accordance with these laws is a person’s duty and a guarantee of the morality of his actions. But in addition to this objective principle, Kant explores another criterion of morality that exists in every person - this is conscience. Conscience is something that cannot be acquired, it is “the original intellectual and moral inclinations”, it is an inevitable fact. Sometimes they say that a person has no conscience, but this does not mean its absence, but indicates a tendency to “not pay attention to its judgments.” Kant characterizes conscience as an “inner judge,” “consciousness of the inner judgment seat in man.” The mechanism of conscience eliminates the duality of man, who belongs to both the phenomenal and the intelligible world. Kant argues that one cannot understand everything correctly and yet act unjustly; Compromises are impossible with conscience; sooner or later you will have to answer to it for your actions.

For all the rigor and unambiguity of the formulation of the moral law, Kant certainly understands the difficulties of its implementation. For example, a person’s duty not to lie or steal in a real situation can be difficult to fulfill: for example, lying out of love for humanity or stealing a piece of bread by a person dying of hunger. All this is possible in life, and Kant examines these contradictions in his works, introducing peculiar additions, which he calls “casuistic questions.” He comes to the conclusion that in such situations you should never pass off your action as moral, and always be precise in your definitions - morality is morality, law is law. Since morality is unconditional, it is universal legislation, then there is not and cannot be cases of morally justified deviation from it.

Despite such a rational approach to the problem of morality, the philosopher admits that man remains the greatest mystery of the universe, and in the conclusion of the “Critique of Practical Reason” he writes: “Two things always fill the soul with new and increasingly powerful surprise and awe, the more often and longer we reflect about them is the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.”

In the doctrine of morality Kant:

• created a deep, interesting ethical theory based on scientific generalization and respect for moral consciousness
• substantiated the thesis about the autonomy of morality, which is valuable in itself and is a law, and is not derived from principles external to it
• proposed a theoretical basis for the organization of human rational life, formulating a moral law obligatory for execution by every rational being
• substantiated in a new way the principle of the intrinsic value of each individual, which under no circumstances can be a means to achieve any goals
• emphasized the importance of the relationship between morality and scientific knowledge based on the unity of practical and theoretical reason

Socio-political views

The Great Great Patriotic War had a huge influence on Kant's socio-political views. French revolution and the ideas of the English and French Enlightenment. Following Rousseau, Kant develops the idea of ​​popular sovereignty, which, in his opinion, is not feasible in reality and can threaten the state with the danger of destruction. Therefore, the will of the people must remain subordinate to the existing government, and changes in the state structure “can only be made by the sovereign himself through reform, and not by the people through revolution.” At the same time, Kant is a resolute opponent of oppression and tyranny; he believes that the despot must necessarily be overthrown, but only by legal means. For example, public opinion may refuse to support a tyrant and, being in conditions of moral isolation, he will be forced to comply with laws or reform them in favor of the people.

Kant's views on socio-historical progress are determined by the fact that a necessary condition for its achievement is an understanding of the contradictory nature of the historical process. The essence of this contradiction lies in the fact that people, on the one hand, tend to live in society, and on the other hand, due to their not very perfect nature and ill will, they strive to provide opposition to each other, threatening society with collapse. According to Kant, without this antagonism and the suffering and disasters associated with it, no development would be possible. But movement in this direction, although very slow and gradual, will still continue as human morals improve.

Of course, Kant's ideas about war and peace seem relevant. He devotes his treatise “Towards Eternal Peace” (1795) to this problem, the very title of which contains ambiguity: either the cessation of wars through an international treaty, or eternal peace “in the gigantic cemetery of humanity” after a war of extermination. Kant believes that humanity always moves towards peace through the disasters of war, and to prevent this from happening, he considers it extremely important and responsible to establish universal peace on earth and justifies the inevitability of this. The philosopher puts forward the idea of ​​an international agreement in which, for example: - no peace treaty can contain a hidden possibility new war; - standing armies should disappear over time; - no state has the right to forcibly interfere with the political structure and government of another state. In many ways, these ideas must be implemented by politicians, to whom Kant also gives advice. And here the philosopher tries to combine politics with morality: one can either adapt morality to the interests of politics (“political moralist”), or subordinate politics to morality (“moral politician”). Of course, the ideal is the “moral politician”, “who establishes the principles of statesmanship that are compatible with morality, but not the political moralist who forges morality aimed at the benefit of the statesman.”

In his socio-political views, Kant acts as a cautious optimist, believing that society, through the moral improvement of people, will inevitably move towards its ideal state - a world without wars and upheavals.

All of Kant’s work is devoted to justifying how every person, society, and the world can become better, smarter and more humane. The idea of ​​morality permeates all types of human spiritual activity: science, philosophy, art, religion. The greatest optimism radiates from Kant's confidence that the world can become a better place the more reasonable and moral every person on earth is, regardless of his occupation.

Kant's aesthetics

In 1790, Kant’s third great book, “Critique of Judgment,” was published, in the first part of which Kant considers the following aesthetic problems and categories: beautiful; sublime; aesthetic perception; ideal of beauty, artistic creativity; aesthetic idea; the relationship between the aesthetic and the moral. Kant comes to aesthetics, trying to resolve the contradiction in his philosophical teaching between the world of nature and the world of freedom: “there must be a basis for the unity of the supersensible, which underlies nature, with what practically contains the concept of freedom.” Thanks to a new approach, Kant created an aesthetic teaching that became one of the most significant phenomena in the history of aesthetics.

The main problem of aesthetics is the question of what is beautiful (beautiful is usually understood as the highest form of beauty). Philosophers before Kant defined beauty as a property of the object of perception; Kant comes to the definition of this category through a critical analysis of the ability to perceive beauty, or the ability to judge taste. “Taste is the ability to judge beauty.” “To determine whether something is beautiful or not, we relate the idea not to the object of knowledge through the understanding for the sake of knowledge, but to the subject and his feeling of pleasure or displeasure.” Kant emphasizes the sensual, subjective and personal nature of the assessment of beauty, but the main task of his criticism is to discover a universal, that is, an a priori criterion for such assessment.

Kant identifies the following distinctive features of the judgment of taste:

• The judgment of taste is the ability to judge an object “on the basis of pleasure or displeasure, free from all interest. The object of such pleasure is called beautiful.” Kant contrasts the judgment of taste with pleasure in the pleasant and pleasure in the good. Pleasure from something pleasant is only a sensation and depends on the object that causes this feeling. Each person enjoys something different (for example, color, smell, sounds, taste). “When it comes to what is pleasant, the principle holds true: everyone has their own taste.” The pleasure of good is significant for everyone because it depends on the concept of the moral value of the object. Both types of pleasure are associated with the idea of ​​the existence of the object that caused them. The beautiful is liked in itself, it is a disinterested, contemplative pleasure, based on the state of the soul. For the judgment of taste, it is completely indifferent whether an object is useful, valuable or pleasant; the only question is whether it is beautiful. Every interest influences our judgment and does not allow it to be free (or a pure judgment of taste).
• If pleasure is free from any personal interest, then it claims to be valid for everyone. In this case, it cannot be said that everyone has their own special taste, “not pleasure, but precisely the universal significance of this pleasure... a priori appears in the judgment of taste as general rule" But the basis of the universality of the judgment of taste is not the concept. “If objects are judged only by concepts, all idea of ​​beauty is lost. Therefore, there cannot be a rule by which everyone can be forced to recognize something as beautiful.” What is the a priori basis for the necessity and universality of pleasure from the beautiful? Kant believes that this is harmony in the free play of mental forces: imagination and reason.
• Harmony in the free play of imagination and reason, which evokes a feeling of pleasure from beauty, corresponds to the form of expediency of the object (expediency is the harmonious connection of parts and the whole). The content and material of the subject are accompanying, not determining factors. Therefore, a pure judgment of taste can be evoked in us by, for example, flowers or non-objective patterns (if no extraneous interest is mixed in with them). In painting, for example, from this point of view, the main role, according to Kant, is played by drawing, and in music - composition.

This point of view makes sense only within the framework of the analysis of the judgment of taste, through which Kant seeks to reveal distinctive features judgments of taste. In the doctrine of the sublime, the ideal of beauty, and art, the philosopher shows the connection between the judgment of taste and other aspects of a person’s relationship to the world.

Judgments about the ideal of beauty cannot be pure judgments of taste. You cannot imagine the ideal of beautiful flowers, beautiful furniture, a beautiful landscape. Only that which has the purpose of its existence in itself, namely, a person can be an ideal of beauty. But such an ideal is always associated with moral ideas.

Kant formulated the antinomy of taste: “One does not argue about tastes, but one argues about tastes” and showed how it is resolved. “Everyone has their own taste” - people who lack taste often defend themselves from reproach with this argument. On the one hand, the judgment of taste is not based on concepts, “taste claims only autonomy,” so it cannot be argued about. But, on the other hand, the judgment of taste has a universal basis, so it is possible to argue about it. The antinomy of taste would be insoluble if “beautiful” in the first thesis was understood as “pleasant”, and in the second – “good”. But both of these points of view on beauty were rejected by Kant. In his teaching, the judgment of taste represents a dialectical unity of the subjective and objective, the individual and the universal, the autonomous and the universally significant, the sensual and the supersensible. Thanks to this understanding, both positions of the antinomy of taste can be considered true.

Unlike the beautiful, which is associated with the form of an object of nature, the sublime deals with the formless, which goes beyond measure. This natural phenomenon causes displeasure. Therefore, the basis of pleasure from the sublime is not nature, but reason, expanding the imagination to the consciousness of the superiority of man over nature. Natural phenomena (thunder, lightning, storm, mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, etc.) or social life(for example, war) are called sublime not in themselves, but “because they increase mental strength beyond the ordinary and allow us to discover in ourselves a completely different kind of ability of resistance, which gives us the courage to measure our strength with the seeming omnipotence of nature.”

Kant defines art through comparison with nature, science and craft. “Beauty in nature is a beautiful thing, and beauty in art is a beautiful representation of a thing.” Art differs from nature in that it is a work of man. But art is art if it seems to us like nature. Art differs from science just as skill differs from knowledge. Unlike a craft, it is a free activity that is enjoyable in itself, and not for the sake of the result. Kant divides the arts into pleasant and graceful. The goal of the former is the pleasant, the goal of the latter is the beautiful. The measure of pleasure in the first case is only sensations, in the second - the judgment of taste.

Kant attaches great importance to the problem artistic creativity. For this he uses the term "genius". In Kant's philosophy this term has a specific meaning. This is the name of a person’s special innate talent, thanks to which he can create works of art. Since Kant considers art an important means of penetration into the world of the supersensible, he defends the freedom of artistic creativity. Through genius, “nature gives art the rule,” and not the world to genius.

1. The main characteristic of a genius should be originality. 2. But nonsense can also be original. The works of a genius, while not being imitations, must themselves be models, a rule of evaluation. 3. The creative activity of a genius cannot be explained. 4. Nature prescribes, through genius, a rule for art, and not for science, “in which well-known rules must come first and determine the method of action in it” (the area of ​​science in Kant’s philosophy is limited to the area of ​​the world of phenomena).

The main ability of a genius is such a relationship between imagination and reason, which makes it possible to create aesthetic ideas. By aesthetic idea, Kant understands “that representation of the imagination that gives reason to think a lot, and, however, no definite thought, i.e. no concept can be adequate to it and, therefore, no language is able to fully achieve it and make it intelligible.” In his doctrine of art, Kant understands form as a means of expressing an aesthetic idea. Therefore, in his classification of art, he places first place not non-objective art, but poetry, which “aesthetically rises to ideas.”

In his aesthetics, Kant shows how the beautiful differs from the moral, and then reveals the nature of the connection between these aspects of human spiritual life: “The beautiful is a symbol of morality.” This is the only reason why everyone likes beauty. When meeting the beautiful, the soul feels a certain ennoblement and elevation above receptivity to sensory impressions. Since “taste is essentially the ability to judge the sensory embodiment of moral ideas,” the education of taste “serves the development of moral ideas and the culture of moral feeling.”

Aesthetics plays an important role in the philosophy of Kant, who is looking for an answer to the most important philosophical question - “what one must be in order to be human.” All of Kant’s aesthetic ideas are so deep and interesting that they are the subject of careful study even today. They do not lose their relevance as social development progresses. Moreover, their relevance is increasing, revealing itself in new interesting and important aspects for us.

Kant's philosophy undoubtedly had a beneficial influence on the subsequent development of philosophy, primarily German classical philosophy. The connection between philosophy and philosophy discovered by Kant turned out to be extremely fruitful. modern science, the desire to understand the forms and methods of theoretical thinking within the framework of logic and theory of knowledge, to explore the cognitive role of philosophical categories, to reveal the dialectical inconsistency of reason. His undoubted merit is a high assessment of moral duty, a view of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy that removes the contradiction between theoretical and practical reason, and an indication of ways to eliminate wars as a means of resolving conflicts between states.

Name: Immanuel Kant

Age: 79 years old

Activity: philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy

Family status: wasn't married

Immanuel Kant: biography

Immanuel Kant is a German thinker, founder of classical philosophy and the theory of criticism. Immortal Quotes Kant went down in history, and the scientist’s books form the basis of philosophical teaching throughout the world.

Kant was born on April 22, 1724 into a religious family in the suburbs of Königsberg in Prussia. His father Johann Georg Kant worked as a craftsman and made saddles, and his mother Anna Regina ran a household.

There were 12 children in the Kant family, and Immanuel was born the fourth; many of the children died in infancy from illnesses. Surviving are three sisters and two brothers.

The house where Kant spent his childhood with his large family was small and poor. In the 18th century, the building was destroyed by fire.

The future philosopher spent his youth on the outskirts of the city among workers and artisans. Historians have long argued about what nationality Kant belongs to; some of them believed that the philosopher’s ancestors came from Scotland. Immanuel himself expressed this assumption in a letter to Bishop Lindblom. However, this information has not been officially confirmed. It is known that Kant’s great-grandfather was a merchant in the Memel region, and his maternal relatives lived in Nunberg, Germany.

Kant's parents instilled spiritual education in their son; they were adherents of a special movement in Lutheranism - Pietism. The essence of this teaching is that every person is under God's eye, so personal piety was given priority. Anna Regina taught her son the basics of faith, and also instilled in little Kant a love for the world around him.

Devout Anna Regina took her children with her to sermons and Bible studies. Doctor of Theology Franz Schulz often visited Kant's family, where he noticed that Immanuel was succeeding in studying scripture and knows how to express his own thoughts.

When Kant was eight years old, at the direction of Schultz, his parents sent him to one of the leading schools in Königsberg, the Friedrich Gymnasium, so that the boy could receive a prestigious education.

Kant studied at school for eight years, from 1732 to 1740. Classes at the gymnasium began at 7:00 and lasted until 9:00. The students studied theology, Old and New Testaments, Latin, German and Greek languages, geography, etc. Philosophy was taught only in high school, and Kant believed that the subject was taught incorrectly in school. Mathematics classes were paid and at the request of the students.

Anna Regina and Johann Georg Kant wanted their son to become a priest in the future, but the boy was impressed by the Latin lessons taught by Heidenreich, so he wanted to become a literature teacher. And Kant did not like the strict rules and morals in the religious school. The future philosopher had poor health, but he studied diligently thanks to his intelligence and intelligence.

At the age of sixteen, Kant entered the University of Königsberg, where the student was first introduced to the discoveries by teacher Martin Knutzen, a pietist and Wolffian. Isaac's teachings had a significant influence on the student's worldview. Kant was diligent in his studies, despite the difficulties. The philosopher’s favorites were the natural and exact sciences: philosophy, physics, mathematics. Kant attended theology class only once out of respect for Pastor Schultz.

Contemporaries did not receive official information that Kant was enrolled in the Albertina, so it is possible to judge that he studied at the theological faculty only by guesswork.

When Kant was 13 years old, Anna Regina fell ill and soon died. The large family had to make ends meet. Immanuel had nothing to wear, and also did not have enough money for food; wealthy classmates fed him. Sometimes the young man didn’t even have shoes, and had to borrow them from friends. But the guy treated all difficulties from a philosophical point of view and said that things obey him, and not vice versa.

Philosophy

Scientists divide the philosophical work of Immanuel Kant into two periods: pre-critical and critical. The pre-critical period is the formation of Kant's philosophical thought and the slow liberation from the school of Christian Wolf, whose philosophy dominated in Germany. The critical time in Kant’s work is the thought of metaphysics as a science, as well as the creation of a new teaching that is based on the theory of the activity of consciousness.

Immanuel wrote his first essay, “Thoughts on the True Assessment of Living Forces,” at the university under the influence of teacher Knutzen, but the work was published in 1749 thanks to the financial assistance of Uncle Richter.

Kant was unable to graduate from the university due to financial difficulties: Johann Georg Kant died in 1746, and in order to feed his family, Immanuel had to work as a home teacher and teach children from the families of counts, majors and priests for almost ten years. In his free time, Immanuel wrote philosophical works, which became the basis of his works.

In 1755, Immanuel Kant returned to the University of Königsberg to defend his dissertation “On Fire” and receive a master's degree. In the fall, the philosopher received his doctorate for his work in the field of the theory of knowledge, “New Illumination of the First Principles of Metaphysical Knowledge,” and began teaching logic and metaphysics at the university.

In the first period of Immanuel Kant’s activity, the interest of scientists was attracted by the cosmogonic work “General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens,” in which Kant talks about the origin of the Universe. In his work, Kant relies not on theology, but on physics.

Also during this period, Kant studied the theory of space from a physical point of view and proved the existence of a Supreme Mind, from which all phenomena of life originate. The scientist believed that if there is matter, then God exists. According to the philosopher, a person must recognize the necessity of the existence of someone who stands behind material things. Kant sets out this idea in his central work, “The Only Possible Ground for Proving the Existence of God.”

A critical period in Kant's work arose when he began teaching logic and metaphysics at the university. Immanuel's hypotheses did not change immediately, but gradually. Initially, Immanuel changed his views on space and time.

It was during the period of criticism that Kant wrote outstanding works on epistemology, ethics and aesthetics: the philosopher’s works became the basis of world teaching. In 1781, Immanuel expanded his scientific biography, writing one of his fundamental works, “Critique of Pure Reason,” in which he described in detail the concept of the categorical imperative.

Personal life

Kant was not distinguished by his beauty; he was short in stature, had narrow shoulders and a sunken chest. However, Immanuel tried to keep himself in order and often visited the tailor and hairdresser.

The philosopher led a reclusive life and never married, in his opinion. love relationship would interfere with scientific activity. For this reason, the scientist never started a family. However, Kant loved and enjoyed female beauty. In his old age, Immanuel became blind in his left eye, so during dinner he asked some young beauty to sit to his right.

It is unknown whether the scientist was in love: Louise Rebecca Fritz, in her old age, recalled that Kant liked her. Borovsky also said that the philosopher loved twice and intended to get married.

Immanuel was never late and followed the daily routine to the minute. Every day he went to a cafe to drink a cup of tea. Moreover, Kant arrived at the same time: the waiters didn’t even have to look at their watches. This feature of the philosopher even applies to ordinary walks, which he loved.

The scientist was in poor health, but developed his own body hygiene, so he lived to an old age. Every morning Immanuel began at 5 o'clock. Without taking off his night clothes, Kant went to his study, where the philosopher's servant Martin Lampe prepared a cup of weak green tea and a smoking pipe for the owner. According to Martin's recollections, Kant had a strange peculiarity: while in his office, the scientist put on a cocked hat directly over his cap. Then he slowly sipped his tea, smoked tobacco and read the outline of the upcoming lecture. Immanuel spent at least two hours at his desk.

At 7 a.m. Kant changed clothes and went down to the lecture hall, where devoted listeners were waiting for him: sometimes there weren’t even enough seats. He lectured slowly, diluting philosophical ideas with humor.

Immanuel paid attention to even minor details in the image of his interlocutor; he would not communicate with a student who was sloppily dressed. Kant even forgot what he was telling his listeners about when he saw that one of the students was missing a button on his shirt.

After a two-hour lecture, the philosopher returned to the office and again changed into night pajamas, a cap, and put on a cocked hat on top. Kant spent 3 hours and 45 minutes at his desk.

Then Immanuel prepared for the dinner reception of guests and ordered the cook to prepare the table: the philosopher hated eating alone, especially since the scientist ate once a day. The table was abundant with food; the only thing missing from the meal was beer. Kant did not like malt drink and believed that beer, unlike wine, had a bad taste.

Kant dined with his favorite spoon, which he kept with his money. The news happening in the world was discussed at the table, but not philosophy.

Death

The scientist lived the rest of his life in the house, being in abundance. Despite careful monitoring of his health, the body of the 75-year-old philosopher began to weaken: first his physical strength left him, and then his mind began to become cloudy. In his old age, Kant could not give lectures, and the scientist received only close friends at the dinner table.

Kant gave up his favorite walks and stayed at home. The philosopher tried to write the essay “The System of Pure Philosophy in its Entirety,” but he did not have enough strength.

Later, the scientist began to forget words, and life began to fade away faster. Died great philosopher February 12, 1804. Before his death, Kant said: “Es ist gut” (“This is good”).

Immanuel was buried near Cathedral Koenigsberg, and a chapel was erected over Kant’s grave.

Bibliography

• Critique of Pure Reason;
• Prolegomena to any future metaphysics;
• Critique of Practical Reason;
• Fundamentals of the metaphysics of morality;
• Critique of judgment;