Immanuel Kant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Immanuel Kant
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Immanuel Kant
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| Era | 18th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Kantianism, enlightenment philosophy |
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Main interests
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Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics |
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Notable ideas
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Categorical imperative, Transcendental Idealism, Synthetic a priori, Noumenon, Sapere aude, Nebular hypothesis |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Immanuel Kant (born April 22, 1724 – died February 12, 1804) was an important German philosopher. He was born and died in Königsberg, which was then part of Prussia. Kant studied philosophy at the local university and later became a professor there. He created a special way of thinking he called "transcendental idealism".
Today, Königsberg is known as Kaliningrad and is part of Russia. When Kant lived, it was the second-largest city in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Contents
Kant's Life and Studies
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724. In 1740, he started studying at the University of Königsberg. He focused on the ideas of philosophers like Gottfried Leibniz and Christian Wolff. Kant left the university in 1746 after his father passed away.
He then worked as a private teacher, or tutor, for families, including the family of Count Kayserling. In 1755, Kant became a lecturer at the university. He held this job until 1770. He also became the second librarian of the Royal Library in 1766.
Later, Kant became a full professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. It's interesting to know that Kant never traveled more than 70 miles from Königsberg in his whole life! He died on February 12, 1804, and his last words were "Es ist gut," which means "It is good."
Early Interests and Doubts
When he was younger, Kant was very interested in physics. He studied both astronomical objects like planets and stars, and the Earth itself. He wrote some papers about these topics. However, he soon became more interested in metaphysics. This field explores the basic nature of reality and how humans gain knowledge.
Kant began to question the common ideas of philosophers from the past. He was greatly influenced by a Scottish philosopher named David Hume. Hume's ideas made Kant rethink everything. Hume suggested that our experiences might not be as certain as we think. This idea, called "skepticism," deeply affected Kant.
Kant wanted to find a new way of thinking. He aimed to go beyond both "skepticism" (doubting everything) and "dogmatism" (believing things without question). He also read the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau's thoughts on human beings, especially about morals, freedom, and lasting peace, made a big impression on Kant.
Kant's Philosophy
Some people group Kant with German idealists, but Kant saw his own ideas differently. His most famous book is Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft), which he published in 1781. Kant called his approach "critique" rather than just "philosophy."
He believed that "critique" was a necessary step before true philosophy could be built. Kant thought people needed to understand what human reason could do and what its limits were. In Critique of Pure Reason, he explained several limits of human reason.
For example, when we sense things, our minds have two built-in limits: space and time. These are not physical things outside us, but ways our minds organize what we experience. For thinking, Kant said our minds use 12 basic concepts, or "categories." These help us understand everything around us.
Understanding Reality
Is what we think just our own fantasy? Kant said "No." He believed that even with the limits of our senses and reason, we can still know some things. He also thought there was something beyond our direct knowledge, something he called Ding an sich—the "thing in itself."
We can think about the "thing in itself," but we can't experience it directly or truly know it. Ideas like God, the eternity of the soul, or life after death belong to the "thing in itself." Kant believed these topics were not suitable for philosophy, even though people had discussed them for a long time.
Other Important Books
Kant wrote two other important books called Critique:
- Critique of Practical Reason (1788): In this book, Kant explored ideas about freedom and God. It was his main work on ethics, which is about how we should live and make moral choices.
- Critique of Judgment (1790): Here, Kant wrote about beauty and teleology. Teleology asks if there is a purpose to things, like if the world or living creatures exist for a reason.
In both books, Kant concluded that we cannot fully answer these big questions. This is because they deal with the "thing in itself," which is beyond our direct knowledge.
Kant's Influence
Kant had a huge impact on many other thinkers. In the 19th century, German philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Schopenhauer were all influenced by his ideas. Writers such as Herder, Schiller, and Goethe also found inspiration in Kant's work.
In the early 20th century, a group of German philosophers known as the "new-Kantians" were greatly influenced by him. One of them, Windelband, famously said that "every philosophy before Kant poured into Kant, and every philosophy after Kant pours from Kant." This means Kant's ideas were a turning point in philosophy.
Kant continues to influence many modern thinkers today, including Hannah Arendt and John Rawls.
Images for kids
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Kant's house in Königsberg
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Portrait of philosopher David Hume
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Engraving of Immanuel Kant
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Kant with friends, including Christian Jakob Kraus, Johann Georg Hamann, Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel and Karl Gottfried Hagen
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Kant's tomb in Kaliningrad, Russia
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Immanuel Kant by Carle Vernet (1758–1836)
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Kant statue in the School of Philosophy and Human Sciences (FAFICH) in the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil
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Immanuel Kant
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In his Metaphysics, Immanuel Kant introduced the categorical imperative: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."
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5 DM 1974 D silver coin commemorating the 250th birthday of Immanuel Kant in Königsberg
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Statue of Immanuel Kant in Kaliningrad (Königsberg), Russia. Replica by Harald Haacke of the original by Christian Daniel Rauch lost in 1945.
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West German postage stamp, 1974, commemorating the 250th anniversary of Kant's birth
See also
In Spanish: Immanuel Kant para niños
