Immanuel Kant and his philosophy. Immanuel Kant biography Where was Immanuel Kant born

MOSCOW, April 22 - RIA Novosti. The 290th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is celebrated on Tuesday.

Below is a biographical note.

The founder of German classical philosophy, Immanuel Kant, was born on April 22, 1724 in the suburb of Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad) Vorder Vorstadt in a poor family of a saddler (a saddler is a manufacturer of eyecups for horses that are put on them to limit the field of view). At baptism, Kant received the name Emanuel, but later he himself changed it to Immanuel, considering it the most suitable for himself. The family belonged to one of the directions of Protestantism - pietism, which preached personal piety and the strictest observance of moral rules.

From 1732 to 1740, Kant studied at one of the best schools in Koenigsberg - the Latin Friedrichs-Collegium (Collegium Fridericianum).

The house in the Kaliningrad region where Kant lived and worked will be restoredGovernor of the Kaliningrad Region Nikolai Tsukanov instructed to complete the development of a concept for the development of the territory in the village of Veselovka, associated with the name of the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant, within two weeks, the regional government said in a statement.

In 1740 he entered the University of Königsberg. There is no exact data on which faculty Kant studied at. Most researchers of his biography agree that he should have studied at the theological faculty. However, judging by the list of subjects he studied, the future philosopher preferred mathematics, natural sciences and philosophy. For the entire period of study, he attended only one theological course.

In the summer of 1746, Kant presented to the Faculty of Philosophy his first scientific work - "Thoughts for a true assessment of living forces", dedicated to the formula for momentum. The work was published in 1747 with the money of Kant's uncle, the shoemaker Richter.

In 1746, due to the difficult financial situation, Kant was forced to leave the university without passing the final exams and without defending his dissertation for a master's degree. For several years he worked as a home teacher on estates in the vicinity of Koenigsberg.

In August 1754, Immanuel Kant returned to Konigsberg. In April 1755, he defended his thesis "On Fire" for a master's degree. In June 1755 he was awarded his doctorate for his dissertation "A New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Knowledge", which was his first philosophical work. He received the title of Privatdozent of Philosophy, which gave him the right to teach at the university, without, however, receiving a salary from the university.

In 1756, Kant defended his thesis "Physical Monadology" and received the post of ordinary professor. In the same year, he petitioned the king for the post of professor of logic and metaphysics, but was refused. Only in 1770 did Kant receive a permanent position as professor of these subjects.

Kant lectured not only on philosophy, but also on mathematics, physics, geography, and anthropology.

In the development of Kant's philosophical views, two qualitatively different periods are distinguished: the early, or "pre-critical", which lasted until 1770, and the subsequent, "critical", when he created his own philosophical system, which he called "critical philosophy".

The early Kant was an inconsistent supporter of natural-scientific materialism, which he tried to combine with the ideas of Gottfried Leibniz and his follower Christian Wolff. His most significant work of this period is the "General Natural History and Theory of the Sky" of 1755), in which the author puts forward a hypothesis about the origin of the solar system (and similarly about the origin of the entire universe). Kant's cosmogonic hypothesis showed the scientific significance of the historical view of nature.

Another treatise of this period, also important for the history of dialectics, is An Attempt to Introduce the Concept of Negative Quantities into Philosophy (1763), in which a distinction is made between real and logical contradiction.

From 1771, a "critical" period began in the work of the philosopher. Since that time, Kant's scientific activity has been devoted to three main topics: epistemology, ethics and aesthetics, combined with the doctrine of expediency in nature. Each of these topics corresponded to a fundamental work: Critique of Pure Reason (1781), Critique of Practical Reason (1788), Critique of Judgment (1790) and a number of other works.

In his main work, The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant tried to substantiate the unknowability of the essence of things ("things in themselves"). From Kant's point of view, our knowledge is determined not so much by the external material world as by the general laws and methods of our mind. With this formulation of the question, the philosopher laid the foundation for a new philosophical problem - the theory of knowledge.

Twice, in 1786 and 1788, Kant was elected rector of the University of Königsberg. In the summer of 1796, he gave his last lectures at the university, but he left his place on the university staff only in 1801.

Immanuel Kant subordinated his life to a strict schedule, thanks to which he lived a long life, despite his naturally poor health; On February 12, 1804, the scientist died at his home. His last word was "Gut".

Kant was not married, although, according to biographers, he had this intention several times.

Kant was buried at the eastern corner of the north side of the Königsberg Cathedral in the professorial crypt, a chapel was erected over his grave. In 1809, the crypt was demolished due to dilapidation, and in its place a walking gallery was built, which was called "Stoa Kantiana" and existed until 1880. In 1924, according to the project of the architect Friedrich Lars, the Kant memorial was restored and acquired a modern look.

The monument to Immanuel Kant was cast in bronze in Berlin by Karl Gladenbeck according to the design of Christian Daniel Rauch in 1857, but was installed opposite the philosopher's house in Königsberg only in 1864, since the money collected by the inhabitants of the city was not enough. In 1885, in connection with the redevelopment of the city, the monument was moved to the university building. In 1944, the sculpture was hidden from the bombings in the estate of Countess Marion Denhoff, but was subsequently lost. In the early 1990s, Countess Denhoff donated a large sum to restore the monument.

A new bronze statue of Kant, cast in Berlin by the sculptor Harald Haacke from an old miniature model, was installed on June 27, 1992 in Kaliningrad in front of the university building. The burial place and the monument to Kant are objects of the cultural heritage of modern Kaliningrad.

Immanuel Kant is a German philosopher, the founder of German classical philosophy, who worked on the verge of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Born April 22, 1724 in Königsberg in a poor family of artisan Johann Georg Kant. In 1730 he entered elementary school, and in the autumn of 1732 he entered the state church gymnasium Collegium Fridericianum. Under the care of the doctor of theology Franz Albert Schulz, who noticed extraordinary talent in Kant, he graduated from the Latin department of a prestigious church gymnasium, and then in 1740 entered the University of Koenigsberg. The faculty at which he studied is not exactly known. Presumably, it was the faculty of theology, although some researchers, based on an analysis of the list of subjects to which he paid the most attention, call it medical. Due to the death of his father, Immanuel failed to complete his studies and, in order to feed his family, he became a home teacher for 10 years.

Kant returned to Königsberg in 1753 with the hope of starting a career at Königsberg University. On June 12, 1755, he defended his dissertation, for which he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, which gave him the right to teach at the university. For him, forty years of teaching began. Kant gave his first lecture in the autumn of 1755. During his first year as an associate professor, Kant lectured sometimes twenty-eight hours a week.

The war between Prussia and France, Austria and Russia had a significant impact on Kant's life and work. In this war, Prussia was defeated, and Koenigsberg was captured by Russian troops. On January 24, 1758, the city swore allegiance to Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Together with the teachers of the university, Kant also took the oath. Classes at the university were not interrupted during the war, but classes with Russian officers were added to the usual lectures. Kant read fortification and pyrotechnics for Russian listeners. Some biographers of the philosopher believe that such well-known persons in Russian history as the future Catherine's nobleman G. Orlov and the great commander A. Suvorov could have been his listeners at that time.

By the age of forty, Kant was still a privatdozent and received no money from the university. Neither lectures nor publications made it possible to overcome material uncertainty. According to eyewitnesses, he had to sell books from his library in order to satisfy the most pressing needs. Nevertheless, recalling these years, Kant called them the time of the greatest satisfaction in his life. He strove in his education and teaching for the ideal of broad practical knowledge about man, which led to the fact that Kant continued to be considered a "secular philosopher" even when his forms of thinking and way of life completely changed.

By the end of the 1760s, Kant became known beyond the borders of Prussia. In 1769, Professor Hausen from Halle publishes biographies of famous philosophers and historians of the 18th century. in Germany and beyond. This collection also included a biography of Kant.

In 1770, at the age of 46, Kant was appointed ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg, where until 1797 he taught an extensive cycle of disciplines - philosophical, mathematical, physical. Kant occupied this position until his death and performed his duties with his usual punctuality.

By 1794, Kant published a number of articles in which he was ironic about the dogmas of the church, which caused a confrontation with the Prussian authorities. Rumors spread about the impending massacre of the philosopher. Despite this, in 1794 the Russian Academy of Sciences elected Kant as its member.

Having reached the age of 75, Kant felt a decline in strength, significantly reduced the number of lectures, the last of which he read on June 23, 1796. In November 1801, Kant finally parted with the university.

Immanuel Kant died on February 12, 1804 in Konigsberg. Back in 1799, Kant ordered his own funeral. He asked that they take place on the third day after his death and be as modest as possible: let only relatives and friends be present, and the body be interred in an ordinary cemetery. It turned out differently. The whole city said goodbye to the thinker. Access to the deceased lasted sixteen days. The coffin was carried by 24 students, the entire officer corps of the garrison and thousands of fellow citizens followed the coffin. Kant was buried in the professorial crypt adjoining the Königsberg Cathedral.

Major works

1. Critique of Pure Reason (1781).

2. The idea of universal history in the world-civil plan (1784).

3. Metaphysical principles of natural science (1786).

4. Critique of Practical Reason (1788).

5. The End of All Things (1794).

6. To eternal peace (1795).

7. On the organ of the soul (1796).

8. Metaphysics of Morals (1797).

9. Notification of the imminent signing of a treaty on perpetual peace in philosophy (1797).

10. About the imaginary right to lie out of philanthropy (1797).

11. Dispute of the faculties (1798).

12. Anthropology (1798).

13. Logic (1801).

14. Physical Geography (1802).

15. On Pedagogy (1803).

Theoretical views

Kant's political and constitutional views are contained mainly in the works "Ideas of World History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View", "Toward an Eternal Peace", "Metaphysical Principles of the Doctrine of Law".

The cornerstone principle of his views is the assertion that every person has perfect dignity, absolute value, and a person is not an instrument for the implementation of any plans, even noble ones. A person is a subject of moral consciousness, fundamentally different from the surrounding nature, therefore, in his behavior, he must be guided by the dictates of the moral law. This law is a priori and therefore unconditional. Kant calls it the "categorical imperative". Compliance with the requirements of the "categorical imperative" is possible when individuals are able to follow the voice of "practical reason". "Practical reason" covered both the field of ethics and the field of law.

The totality of conditions that limit the arbitrariness of one in relation to others through the objective general law of freedom, Kant calls right. It is designed to regulate the external form of human behavior, human actions. The true calling of law is to reliably guarantee morality (subjective motives, structure of thoughts and feelings), as well as the social space in which morality could normally manifest itself, in which individual freedom could be freely realized. This is the essence of Kant's idea of the moral validity of law.

The necessity of the state, which Kant saw as an association of many people subject to legal laws, he associated not with the practical, sensually tangible, individual, group and general needs of members of society, but with categories that entirely belong to the rational, intelligible world. The benefit of the state is not at all the solution of such problems as concern for the material security of citizens, for the satisfaction of their social and cultural needs, for their work, health, education, and so on. This is not good for the citizens. The benefit of the state is the state of the greatest consistency of the constitution with the principles of law, to which the mind obliges to strive with the help of the "categorical imperative". The advancement and defense of Kant's thesis that the benefit and purpose of the state is in the improvement of law, in the maximum compliance of the structure and regime of the state with the principles of law, gave reason to consider Kant one of the main creators of the concept of "rule of law". The state must rely on law and coordinate its actions with it. A deviation from this provision can cost the state extremely dearly: the state risks losing the trust and respect of its citizens, its activities will no longer find an internal response and support in citizens. People will consciously take a position of alienation from such a state.

Kant distinguishes three categories of law: natural law, which has its source in self-evident a priori principles; positive law, the source of which is the will of the legislator; justice is a claim that is not provided for by law and therefore not secured by coercion. Natural law, in turn, is divided into two branches: private law (relationships of individuals as owners) and public law (relationships between people united in a union of citizens, as members of a political whole).

The central institution of public law is the prerogative of the people to demand their participation in the establishment of the rule of law by adopting a constitution expressing their will, which is the democratic idea of popular sovereignty. The supremacy of the people, proclaimed by Kant following Rousseau, determines the freedom, equality and independence of all citizens in the state - the organization of the aggregate multitude of persons bound by legal laws.

According to Kant, every state has three powers: legislative (belonging only to the confident "collective will of the people"), executive (concentrated with the legitimate ruler and subordinate to the legislative, supreme power), judicial (appointed by the executive power). The subordination and consent of these authorities are capable of preventing despotism and guaranteeing the welfare of the state.

Kant did not attach great importance to the classification of state forms, distinguishing the following three types: autocracy (absolutism), aristocracy and democracy. In addition, he believed that the center of gravity of the problem of the state structure lies directly in the ways and methods of governing the people. From this position, he distinguishes between republican and despotic forms of government: the first is based on the separation of the executive from the legislative, the second, on the contrary, on their merger. Kant considered the republican system to be the ideal state structure, since it is most durable: the law in the republic is independent and does not depend on any person. However, Kant disputes the right of the people to punish the head of state, even if he violates his duty to the country, believing that an individual may not feel internally connected with state power, not feel his duty to it, but externally, formally, he is always obliged to fulfill it. laws and regulations.

An important position put forward by Kant is the project of establishing "eternal peace". However, it can be achieved only in the distant future, through the creation of an all-encompassing federation of independent, equal states built on the republican type. According to the philosopher, the formation of such a cosmopolitan union, in the end, is inevitable. For Kant, eternal peace is the highest political good, which is achieved only with the best system, "where power belongs not to people, but to laws."

Of great importance was the principle formulated by Immanuel Kant about the priority of morality over politics. This principle was directed against the immoral policies of those in power. Kant considers publicity, openness of all political actions, to be the main remedy against immoral politics. He believed that "all actions relating to the law of other people are unjust, the maxims of which are incompatible with publicity", while "all maxims that need publicity (in order to achieve their goal) are consistent with both law and politics." Kant argued that "the right of man must be considered sacred, no matter how much sacrifice it costs the ruling power."

It was Kant who ingeniously formulated the main problem of constitutionalism: "The constitution of the state, in the final analysis, is based on the morality of its citizens, which, in turn, is based on a good constitution."

German Immanuel Kant

German philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy

short biography

The largest German scientist, philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy, a man whose works had a huge impact on the development of philosophical thought in the 18th and subsequent centuries.

In 1724, on April 22, Immanuel was born in Prussian Konigsberg. His whole biography will be connected with this city; if Kant left its limits, then for a short distance and not for long. The future great philosopher was born into a poor, large family; his father was a simple craftsman. Immanuel's talent was noticed by the doctor of theology Franz Schulz and helped him become a student at the prestigious Friedrichs Collegium gymnasium.

In 1740, Immanuel Kant became a student at the Albertina University of Koenigsberg, but the death of his father prevented him from completely unlearning. For 10 years, Kant, providing financial support for his family, has been working as a home teacher in different families, having left his native Koenigsberg. Difficult everyday circumstances do not prevent him from engaging in scientific activities. So, in 1747-1750. Kant's attention was focused on his own cosmogonic theory of the origin of the solar system from the original nebula, the relevance of which has not been lost to this day.

In 1755 he returned to Konigsberg. Kant finally managed not only to complete his university education, but also, having defended several dissertations, to receive a doctorate degree and the right to engage in teaching activities as an assistant professor and professor. Within the walls of his alma mater, he worked for four decades. Until 1770, Kant worked as an extraordinary associate professor, after that he was an ordinary professor in the department of logic and metaphysics. Philosophical, physical, mathematical and other disciplines Immanuel Kant taught students until 1796.

The year 1770 also became a milestone in his scientific biography: he divides his work into the so-called. subcritical and critical periods. In the second, a number of fundamental works were written, which not only enjoyed great success, but also allowed Kant to enter the circle of outstanding thinkers of the century. The field of epistemology includes his work Critique of Pure Reason (1781), ethics - Critique of Practical Reason (1788). In 1790, the essay "Critique of the Faculty of Judgment" touching on issues of aesthetics was published. Kant's worldview as a philosopher was formed to a certain extent thanks to the study of the writings of Hume and a number of other thinkers.

In turn, the influence of the works of Immanuel Kant himself on the subsequent development of philosophical thought is difficult to overestimate. German classical philosophy, of which he was the founder, later included major philosophical systems developed by Fichte, Schelling, Hegel. The romantic movement experienced the impact of Kant's teachings. Schopenhauer's philosophy also shows the influence of his ideas. In the second half of the XIX century. “neo-Kantianism” was very relevant; in the 20th century, Kant’s philosophical heritage influenced, in particular, existentialism, the phenomenological school, etc.

In 1796, Immanuel Kant stopped lecturing, in 1801 he retired from the university, but did not stop his scientific activity until 1803. The thinker could never boast of iron health and found a way out in a clear daily routine, strict adherence to his own system, good habits, which surprised even pedantic Germans. Kant never connected his life with any of the women, although he had nothing against the fair sex. Regularity and accuracy helped him live longer than many of his peers. He died in his native Konigsberg on February 12, 1804; they buried him in the professorial crypt of the city cathedral.

Biography from Wikipedia

Born into a poor family of a saddle maker. Immanuel had been in poor health since childhood. His mother tried to give her son the highest quality education. She encouraged curiosity and fantasy in her son. Until the end of his life, Kant remembered his mother with great love and gratitude. The father instilled in his son a love of work. Under the care of the doctor of theology F. A. Schulz, who noticed talent in him, he graduated from the prestigious Friedrichs-Collegium gymnasium (de: Collegium Fridericianum), and then in 1740 he entered the University of Königsberg. There were 4 faculties - theological, legal, medical and philosophical. It is not known exactly which faculty Kant chose. Information about this has not been preserved. Biographers differ in their assumptions. Kant's interest in philosophy was awakened by Professor Martin Knutzen. Knutzen was a pietist and Wolfian, fascinated by English natural history. It was he who inspired Kant to write a work on physics.

Kant began this work in his fourth year of study. This work progressed slowly. The young Kant had little knowledge and skills. He was poor. His mother had died by then, and his father could barely make ends meet. Kant worked part-time with lessons; in addition, rich classmates tried to help him. Pastor Schultz and a maternal relative, Uncle Richter, also helped him. There is evidence that it was Richter who took on most of the costs of publishing Kant's debut work, Thoughts on the True Evaluation of Living Forces. Kant wrote it for 3 years and printed it for 4 years. The work was fully printed only in 1749. Kant's work has elicited various responses; there was a lot of criticism among them.

Due to the death of his father, he fails to complete his studies and, in order to feed his family, he becomes a home teacher in Yudshen (now Veselovka) for 10 years. It was at this time, in the years 1747-1755, that he developed and published his cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from the original nebula.

In 1755, Kant defended his dissertation and received a doctorate, which gives him the right to teach at the university. For him, forty years of teaching began.

During the Seven Years' War from 1758 to 1762, Koenigsberg was under the jurisdiction of the Russian government, which was reflected in the business correspondence of the philosopher. In particular, in 1758 he addressed an application for the position of an ordinary professor to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Unfortunately, the letter never reached her, but was lost in the governor's office. The issue of the department was resolved in favor of another applicant - on the grounds that he was older both in years and in teaching experience.

The period of domination of the Russian Empire over East Prussia was the least productive in Kant's work: for all the years, only a few essays on earthquakes came out from the philosopher's pen, but immediately after its completion, Kant published a whole series of works.

During the several years that the Russian troops were in Königsberg, Kant kept several young nobles in his apartment as boarders and became acquainted with many Russian officers, among whom there were many thinking people. One of the officers' circles suggested that the philosopher give lectures on physics and physical geography (Immanuel Kant, after being refused, was very intensively engaged in private lessons: he even taught fortification and pyrotechnics).

Kant's natural-science and philosophical researches are supplemented by "political science" opuses; thus, in his treatise Towards Perpetual Peace, he for the first time prescribed the cultural and philosophical foundations for the future unification of Europe into a family of enlightened peoples.

Since 1770, it has been customary to count the "critical" period in Kant's work. This year, at the age of 46, he was appointed professor of logic and metaphysics at Königsberg University, where until 1797 he taught an extensive cycle of disciplines - philosophical, mathematical, physical.

The plan long conceived as to how the field of pure philosophy was to be cultivated consisted of three tasks:

what can i know? (metaphysics);
what should I do? (morality);
what can I hope for? (religion);

finally, this was to be followed by the fourth task - what is a man? (anthropology, on which I have been lecturing for more than twenty years).

During this period, Kant wrote fundamental philosophical works that brought the scientist a reputation as one of the outstanding thinkers of the 18th century and had a huge impact on the further development of world philosophical thought:

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

Being in poor health, Kant subjected his life to a harsh regimen, which allowed him to outlive all his friends. His accuracy in following the routine became a byword even among punctual Germans and gave rise to many sayings and anecdotes. He was not married. He said that when he wanted to have a wife, he could not support her, and when he already could, he did not want to. However, he was not a misogynist either, he willingly talked with women, he was a pleasant secular conversationalist. In his old age he was cared for by one of his sisters.

There is an opinion that Kant sometimes showed anti-Semite phobia.

Kant wrote: “Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own mind! - this is ... the motto of the Enlightenment.

Kant was buried at the eastern corner of the north side of the Königsberg Cathedral in the professorial crypt, a chapel was erected over his grave. In 1924, on the 200th anniversary of Kant, the chapel was replaced with a new structure, in the form of an open columned hall, strikingly different in style from the cathedral itself.

Stages of scientific activity

Kant went through two stages in his philosophical development: "pre-critical" and "critical". (These concepts are defined by the philosopher's Critique of Pure Reason, 1781; Critique of Practical Reason, 1788; Critique of Judgment, 1790).

Stage I (until 1770) - Kant developed the questions that had been posed by previous philosophical thought. In addition, during this period, the philosopher was engaged in natural science problems:

developed a cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from a giant primordial gaseous nebula (General Natural History and Theory of the Sky, 1755);
outlined the idea of a genealogical classification of the animal world, that is, the distribution of various classes of animals in the order of their possible origin;
put forward the idea of the natural origin of human races;
studied the role of ebbs and flows on our planet.

Stage II (begins in 1770 or 1780s) - deals with issues of epistemology (the process of cognition), reflects on the metaphysical (general philosophical) problems of being, cognition, man, morality, state and law, aesthetics.

Philosophy

Epistemology

Kant rejected the dogmatic method of cognition and believed that instead it should be based on the method of critical philosophizing, the essence of which lies in the study of the mind itself, the boundaries that a person can reach with the mind, and the study of individual ways of human cognition.

Kant's main philosophical work is the Critique of Pure Reason. The original problem for Kant is the question "How is pure knowledge possible?". First of all, this concerns the possibility of pure mathematics and pure natural science ("pure" means "non-empirical", a priori, or inexperienced). Kant formulated this question in terms of a distinction between analytical and synthetic judgments - "How are synthetic judgments a priori possible?" By "synthetic" judgments, Kant understood judgments with an increment of content in comparison with the content of the concepts included in the judgment. Kant distinguished these judgments from analytical judgments that reveal the meaning of concepts. Analytic and synthetic judgments differ in whether the content of the predicate of the judgment follows from the content of its subject (such are analytic judgments) or, on the contrary, is added to it "from the outside" (such are synthetic judgments). The term "a priori" means "out of experience", as opposed to the term "a posteriori" - "from experience".

Analytic judgments are always a priori: experience is not needed for them, so there are no a posteriori analytic judgments. Accordingly, experimental (a posteriori) judgments are always synthetic, since their predicates draw content from experience that was not in the subject of the judgment. Concerning a priori synthetic judgments, then, according to Kant, they are part of mathematics and natural science. Due to their a priori nature, these judgments contain universal and necessary knowledge, that is, such that it is impossible to extract from experience; thanks to syntheticity, such judgments give an increase in knowledge.

Kant, following Hume, agrees that if our knowledge begins with experience, then its connection - universality and necessity - is not from it. However, if Hume draws a skeptical conclusion from this that the connection of experience is just a habit, then Kant refers this connection to the necessary a priori activity of the mind (in the broad sense). The revelation of this activity of the mind in relation to experience, Kant calls transcendental research. “I call transcendental ... knowledge that deals not so much with objects as with the types of our knowledge of objects ...”, writes Kant.

Kant did not share the boundless faith in the powers of the human mind, calling this faith dogmatism. Kant, according to him, made the Copernican revolution in philosophy, by being the first to point out that in order to justify the possibility of knowledge, one should proceed from the fact that not our cognitive abilities correspond to the world, but the world must conform to our abilities, so that knowledge could take place at all. In other words, our consciousness does not just passively comprehend the world as it really is (dogmatism), but, rather, on the contrary, the world conforms to the possibilities of our knowledge, namely: the mind is an active participant in the formation of the world itself, given to us in experience. Experience is essentially a synthesis of that sensory content (“matter”) that is given by the world (things in themselves) and that subjective form in which this matter (sensations) is comprehended by consciousness. A single synthetic whole of matter and form Kant calls experience, which by necessity becomes something only subjective. That is why Kant distinguishes the world as it is in itself (that is, outside the formative activity of the mind) - a thing-in-itself, and the world as it is given in the phenomenon, that is, in experience.

In experience, two levels of shaping (activity) of the subject are distinguished. First, these are a priori forms of feeling (sensory contemplation) - space (external feeling) and time (internal feeling). In contemplation, sensory data (matter) are realized by us in the forms of space and time, and thus the experience of feeling becomes something necessary and universal. This is a sensory synthesis. To the question of how pure, that is, theoretical, mathematics is possible, Kant answers: it is possible as an a priori science on the basis of pure contemplations of space and time. Pure contemplation (representation) of space is the basis of geometry (three-dimensionality: for example, the relative position of points and lines and other figures), a pure representation of time is the basis of arithmetic (the number series implies the presence of an account, and the condition for the account is time).

Secondly, thanks to the categories of the understanding, the givens of contemplation are connected. This is a mental synthesis. Reason, according to Kant, deals with a priori categories, which are "forms of thought". The path to synthesized knowledge lies through the synthesis of sensations and their a priori forms - space and time - with a priori categories of reason. “Without sensibility, not a single object would be given to us, and without reason, not a single one could be thought” (Kant). Cognition is achieved by combining intuitions and concepts (categories) and is an a priori ordering of phenomena, expressed in the construction of objects based on sensations.

Quantity categories
- Unity
- Lots of
- Wholeness
Quality categories
- Reality
- Negation
- Limitation
Categories of relationship
- Substance and belonging
- Cause and investigation
- Interaction
Categories of modality
- Possibility and impossibility
- Existence and non-existence
- Necessity and chance

The sensory material of cognition, ordered through the a priori mechanisms of contemplation and reason, becomes what Kant calls experience. On the basis of sensations (which can be expressed by statements like “this is yellow” or “this is sweet”), which are formed through time and space, as well as through a priori categories of reason, judgments of perception arise: “the stone is warm”, “the sun is round”, then - “the sun shone, and then the stone became warm”, and further - developed judgments of experience, in which the observed objects and processes are brought under the category of causality: “the sun caused the stone to heat up”, etc. Kant's concept of experience coincides with the concept of nature: “ …nature and possible experience is exactly the same" representation i think which must be able to accompany all other representations and be the same in every consciousness. As I. S. Narsky writes, transcendental apperception Kant is “the principle of constancy and systemic organization of the action of categories, arising from the unity of the one who applies them, reasoning"I". (...) It is common to ... empirical "I" and in this sense, the objective logical structure of their consciousness, ensuring the internal unity of experience, science and nature.

Much space is devoted in the Critique to how representations are subsumed under the concepts of the understanding (categories). Here the decisive role is played by the ability of judgment, imagination and rational categorical schematism. According to Kant, there must be a mediating link between intuitions and categories, thanks to which abstract concepts, which are categories, are able to organize sensory data, turning them into law-like experience, that is, into nature. The intermediary between thinking and sensibility in Kant is productive power of the imagination. This ability creates a scheme of time as "a pure image of all sense objects in general." Thanks to the scheme of time, there exists, for example, the scheme of "multiplicity" - a number as a successive attachment of units to each other; the scheme of "reality" - the existence of an object in time; the scheme of "substantiality" - the stability of a real object in time; scheme of "existence" - the presence of an object at a certain time; the scheme of "necessity" - the presence of a certain object at all times. By the productive power of the imagination, the subject, according to Kant, generates the foundations of pure natural science (they are also the most general laws of nature). According to Kant, pure natural science is the result of a priori categorical synthesis.

Knowledge is given by synthesis of categories and observations. Kant showed for the first time that our knowledge of the world is not a passive reflection of reality; according to Kant, it arises due to the active creative activity of the unconscious productive power of the imagination.

Finally, having described the empirical application of reason (that is, its application in experience), Kant asks the question of the possibility of a pure application of reason (reason, according to Kant, is the lowest level of reason, the use of which is limited to the sphere of experience). Here a new question arises: "How is metaphysics possible?". As a result of the study of pure reason, Kant shows that reason, when it tries to get unambiguous and conclusive answers to philosophical questions proper, inevitably plunges itself into contradictions; this means that the mind cannot have a transcendent application that would allow it to achieve theoretical knowledge about things in themselves, because, seeking to go beyond the limits of experience, it "gets entangled" in paralogisms and antinomies (contradictions, each of whose statements is equally justified); reason in the narrow sense - as opposed to reason operating with categories - can only have a regulatory meaning: to be a regulator of the movement of thought towards the goals of systematic unity, to give a system of principles that any knowledge must satisfy.

Kant argues that the solution of antinomies "can never be found in experience ...".

Kant considers the solution of the first two antinomies to be the identification of a situation in which "the question itself does not make sense." Kant argues, as I. S. Narsky writes, “that the properties of ‘beginning’, ‘boundary’, ‘simplicity’ and ‘complexity’ are not applicable to the world of things in themselves outside of time and space, and the world of phenomena is never given to us in in its entirety precisely as an integral “world”, while the empiricism of the fragments of the phenomenal world cannot be invested in these characteristics ... ". As for the third and fourth antinomies, the dispute in them, according to Kant, is "settled" if one recognizes the truth of their antitheses for phenomena and assumes the (regulative) truth of their theses for things in themselves. Thus, the existence of antinomies, according to Kant, is one of the proofs of the correctness of his transcendental idealism, which contrasted the world of things in themselves and the world of appearances.

According to Kant, any future metaphysics that wants to be a science must take into account the implications of his critique of pure reason.

Ethics and the problem of religion

In the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant expounds the theory of ethics. Practical reason in Kant's teaching is the only source of principles of moral behavior; it is the mind growing into the will. Ethics of Kant is autonomous and a priori, it is aimed at what is due, and not at what exists. Its autonomy means the independence of moral principles from non-moral arguments and grounds. The reference point for Kantian ethics is not the actual actions of people, but the norms arising from the "pure" moral will. This is ethics debt. In the apriorism of duty, Kant seeks the source of the universality of moral norms.

Categorical imperative

Imperative - a rule that contains "objective coercion to act." Moral law - coercion, the need to act contrary to empirical influences. So, it takes the form of a coercive command - an imperative.

Hypothetical imperatives(relative or conditional imperatives) say that actions are effective in achieving certain goals (for example, pleasure or success).

The principles of morality go back to one supreme principle - categorical imperative, prescribing actions that are good in themselves, objectively, without regard to any goal other than morality itself (for example, the requirement of honesty). The categorical imperative says:

« act only in accordance with such a maxim, guided by which you can at the same time wish it to become a universal law"[options: "always act in such a way that the maxim (principle) of your behavior can become a universal law (act as you would wish everyone to act)"];
« act in such a way that you always treat humanity, both in your own person and in the person of everyone else, as an end, and never treat it only as a means"[wording option: "treat humanity in your own person (as well as in the person of any other) always as an end and never - only as a means"];
« principle the will of every person will, with all its maxims establishing universal laws”: one should “do everything from the maxim of one’s will as such, which could also have itself as an object as a will that establishes universal laws.”

These are three different ways of representing the same law, and each of them combines the other two.

The existence of man "has in itself the highest goal ..."; “... only morality and humanity, insofar as it is capable of it, have dignity,” writes Kant.

Duty is the necessity of action out of respect for the moral law.

In ethical teaching, a person is considered from two points of view:

man as a phenomenon;
man as a thing in itself.

The behavior of the former is determined solely by external circumstances and is subject to a hypothetical imperative. The behavior of the second must obey the categorical imperative, the highest a priori moral principle. Thus, behavior can be determined by both practical interests and moral principles. Two tendencies arise: the pursuit of happiness (the satisfaction of some material needs) and the pursuit of virtue. These strivings can contradict each other, and thus the “antinomy of practical reason” arises.

As conditions for the applicability of the categorical imperative in the world of phenomena, Kant puts forward three postulates of practical reason. The first postulate requires the complete autonomy of the human will, its freedom. Kant expresses this postulate with the formula: "You must, therefore you can." Recognizing that without the hope of happiness, people would not have had enough spiritual strength to fulfill their duty in spite of internal and external obstacles, Kant puts forward the second postulate: “there must be immortality human soul." Thus, Kant resolves the antinomy of striving for happiness and striving for virtue by transferring the hopes of the individual to the supra-empirical world. For the first and second postulates, a guarantor is needed, and only God can be it, which means that he must exist- such is the third postulate of practical reason.

The autonomy of Kant's ethics means the dependence of religion on ethics. According to Kant, "religion is no different from morality in its content."

The doctrine of law and the state

The state is an association of many people subject to legal laws.

In the doctrine of law, Kant developed the ideas of the French Enlightenment: the need to destroy all forms of personal dependence, the assertion of personal freedom and equality before the law. Kant derived legal laws from moral ones. Kant recognized the right to freely express his opinion, but with a caveat: "argue as much as you like and about anything, just obey."

State structures cannot be immutable and change when they are no longer necessary. And only the republic is durable (the law is independent and does not depend on any individual).

In the doctrine of relations between states, Kant opposes the unjust state of these relations, against the dominance of strong law in international relations. He advocates the creation of an equal union of peoples. Kant believed that such a union brings humanity closer to the realization of the idea of eternal peace.

The doctrine of expediency. Aesthetics

As a connecting link between the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason, Kant creates the Critique of Judgment, which focuses on the concept of expediency. Subjective expediency, according to Kant, is present in the aesthetic ability of judgment, objective - in teleological. The first is expressed in the harmony of the aesthetic object.

In aesthetics, Kant distinguishes between two types of aesthetic ideas - the beautiful and the sublime. The aesthetic is what one likes about an idea, regardless of its presence. Beauty is perfection associated with form. In Kant, the beautiful acts as a "symbol of the morally good." The Sublime is the perfection associated with infinity in force (dynamically sublime) or in space (mathematical sublime). An example of a dynamically sublime is a storm. An example of the mathematically sublime is mountains. A genius is a person capable of embodying aesthetic ideas.

The teleological ability of judgment is connected with the concept of a living organism as a manifestation of expediency in nature.

About a human

Kant's views on man are reflected in the book Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798). Its main part consists of three sections in accordance with the three abilities of a person: knowledge, feeling of pleasure and displeasure, the ability to desire.

Man is “the most important thing in the world”, since he has self-consciousness.

Man is the highest value, it is a personality. Self-consciousness of a person gives rise to egoism as a natural property of a person. A person does not manifest it only when he considers his "I" not as the whole world, but only as part of it. It is necessary to curb egoism, to control the spiritual manifestations of the personality with the mind.

A person can have unconscious ideas - "dark". In darkness, the process of the birth of creative ideas can take place, about which a person can only know at the level of sensations.

From the sexual feeling (passion) the mind is clouded. But in a person, a moral and cultural norm is imposed on feelings and desires.

Such a concept as genius was subjected to Kant's analysis. "The talent for invention is called genius."

Memory

In 1935, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the visible side of the Moon after Immanuel Kant.

Popular biographies

MOSCOW, April 22 - RIA Novosti. The 290th anniversary of the birth of the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is celebrated on Tuesday.

Below is a biographical note.

From 1732 to 1740, Kant studied at one of the best schools in Koenigsberg - the Latin Friedrichs-Collegium (Collegium Fridericianum).

Kant lectured not only on philosophy, but also on mathematics, physics, geography, and anthropology.

Kant was not married, although, according to biographers, he had this intention several times.

, Spinoza

Followers: Reinhold, Jacobi, Mendelssohn, Herbart, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Frieze, Helmholtz, Cohen, Natorp, Windelband, Rickert, Riehl, Vaihinger, Cassirer, Husserl, Heidegger, Peirce, Wittgenstein, Apel, Strawson, Quine and many others

Biography

Born into a poor family of a saddle maker. The boy was named after St. Emmanuel, in translation this Hebrew name means "God is with us." Under the care of the doctor of theology Franz Albert Schulz, who noticed talent in Immanuel, Kant graduated from the prestigious Friedrichs-Kollegium gymnasium, and then entered the University of Königsberg. Due to the death of his father, he fails to complete his studies and, in order to feed his family, Kant becomes a home teacher for 10 years. It was at this time, in -, that he developed and published the cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from the original nebula, which has not lost its relevance to this day.

Good will is pure (unconditional will). Pure good will cannot exist outside of reason, since it is pure and does not contain anything empirical. And in order to generate this will, reason is needed.

Categorical imperative

Moral law - coercion, the need to act contrary to empirical influences. So, it takes the form of a coercive command - an imperative.

Hypothetical imperatives(relative or conditional imperatives) - actions are good in special cases, to achieve certain goals (doctor's advice to a person who cares about his health).

"Act only in accordance with such a maxim, guided by which you can at the same time wish it to become a universal law."

“Act in such a way that you always treat a person, both in your own person and in the person of everyone else, as an end, and never treat him as a means.”

"the principle of the will of every man as a will that establishes universal laws with all its maxims."

These are three different ways of representing the same law, and each of them combines the other two.

To check the conformity of a particular act with the moral law, Kant suggested using a thought experiment.

Idea of law and state

In the doctrine of the state, Kant developed the ideas of J.J. Rousseau: the idea of popular sovereignty (the source of sovereignty is the monarch, who cannot be condemned, because "he cannot act wrongfully").

Kant also considered the ideas of Voltaire: he recognized the right to freely express his opinion, but with the caveat: "argue as much as you like and about anything, but obey."

The state (in the broadest sense) is an association of many people who are subject to legal laws.

All states have three powers:

legislative (supreme) - belongs only to the united will of the people;

executive (acts according to the law) - belongs to the ruler;

judicial (acts according to the law) - belongs to the judge.

State structures cannot be immutable and change when they are no longer necessary. And only the republic is durable (the law is independent and does not depend on any individual). A true republic is a system governed by authorized deputies elected by the people.

In the doctrine of relations between states, Kant opposes the unjust state of these relations, against the dominance of strong law in international relations. Therefore, Kant is for the creation of an equal union of peoples, which would provide assistance to the weak. And he believed that such a union brings humanity closer to the idea of eternal peace.

Kant's Questions

What can I know?

Kant recognized the possibility of cognition, but at the same time limited this possibility to human abilities, i.e. you can know, but not everything.

What should I do?

One must act according to the moral law; you need to develop your mental and physical strength.

What can I hope for?

You can rely on yourself and on state laws.

What is a person?

Man is the highest value.

About the end of existence

In the "Berlin Monthly" (June 1794) Kant published his article. The idea of the end of all things is presented in this article as the moral end of mankind. The article talks about the ultimate goal of human existence.

Three ending options:

1) natural - according to divine wisdom.

2) supernatural - for reasons incomprehensible to people.

3) unnatural - due to human imprudence, misunderstanding of the ultimate goal.

Compositions

Akademieausgabe von Immanuel Kants Gesammelten Werken (German)

Russian editions

Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 1. - M., 1963, 543 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 4)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 2. - M., 1964, 510 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 5)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 3. - M., 1964, 799 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 6)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 4 Part 1. - M., 1965, 544 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 14)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 4 Part 2. - M., 1965, 478 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 15)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 5. - M., 1966, 564 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 16)
Immanuel Kant. Works in six volumes. Volume 6. - M., 1966, 743 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 17)
Immanuel Kant. Critique of pure reason. - M., 1994, 574 s (Philosophical Heritage, Vol. 118)
Kant I. Critique of Pure Reason / Per. with him. N. Lossky verified and edited by Ts. G. Arzakanyan and M. I. Itkin; Note. Ts. G. Arzakanyan. - M.: Eksmo Publishing House, 2007. - 736 with ISBN 5-699-14702-0

Russian translations available online

Prolegomena to any future metaphysics that may appear as a science (translation: M. Itkina)
The question of whether the Earth is aging from a physical point of view

Translators of Kant into Russian

About him

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