Life and achievements
Early life
Kant was born in Königsberg, Prussia, to a working-class family on April 22, 1724. His father, Johann Georg Kant, was a harness maker, and his mother, Anna Regina Reuter, was a God-fearing woman with good Christian values. Immanuel Kant's parents were very religious, and education became an essential aspect of his life in his early years. He joined the Collegium Fridericianum and learned Latin and Religion; he was raised in the pietist culture of diligence and modesty.
Kant's early life education was relatively rigid and emphasized more religion than science. Still, he fell in love with philosophy and science and was influenced by Newton and Leibniz. Kant began his university studies at sixteen at the University of Königsberg. His tutor was Martin Knutzen, a rationalist who introduced him to Newtonian physics. The influence of Knutzen on Kant and his philosophy was quite significant and played a crucial role in shaping the young philosopher's ideas.
Financial difficulties were not a stranger to Kant during his university education, especially after his father's death. He had to support himself, so he got a job as a tutor in the homes of various nobles and noblemen. These experiences helped him engage socially, and he could resume his learning and research. The author's first philosophical work, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces, was published in 1749. It shows his concern for metaphysical and scientific concepts.
It is possible to start by describing Kant's academic career from 1755 when he obtained the right to lecture at the University of Königsberg. He used to teach many disciplines, including mathematics, physics, and metaphysics; thus, he became a scholar. His first pieces, like Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, proved that he could integrate science with philosophy, opening the door to other significant advancements. Kant's early life can be described as a young man eager to learn and discover the truth about the world and his existence. His early education was rigid, and he also taught and tutored, preparing him for his philosophical writings.
Legacy
Even today, Kant's contribution to philosophy must be noticed because his theories are used in ethics, knowledge, existence, and politics. Immanuel Kant's theory of transcendental idealism, presented in his work Critique of Pure Reason, altered the path of philosophy and the idea of knowledge. According to Kant, the world is given to us through our categories of understanding, such as space and time; thus, the thing itself cannot be known. This realization stood in the middle of the rationalist and empiricist traditions and paved the way for the subsequent developments in philosophy.
The categorical imperative, one of Kant's ethical theories, still applies in ethical debates. According to Kant, any moral action must be universally applicable, providing a way of looking at ethical behavior based on duty and reason. He has emphasized the freedom and dignity of persons and contributed to the discussion on human rights and justice.
In political philosophy, Kant's thoughts on establishing a lasting peace through the cooperation of nations and the republican forms of government remain relevant in the present-day notions of the world community and international relations. In his work Perpetual Peace, he gives a plan for preserving Peace, such as establishing a league of free states and cosmopolitan rights. The concepts developed by Kant regarding the need for legal and moral regulation of the relations between states are still present in modern discussions on global justice and human rights protection.
Kant's aesthetics theories presented in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, such as the beautiful and the sublime, are some of the theories used in developing subsequent theories on art and aesthetics. He noted that aesthetic judgments stem from an individual's pleasure but are presented as objective; this is where the connection between the faculty of imagination and reason is most fascinating. This has impacted the philosophies and the aesthetics of beauty and artistic creation.
However, Kant is not an exception to controversies, given that he has contributed much to philosophy. His work on race and his prejudice have been criticized, and there has been debate on whether these prejudices affect his other philosophies. Nevertheless, his later works, which include criticism of colonialism and the promotion of the ethical equality of all people, demonstrate that Kant's views on these matters were more complex and evolving.
Kant is still relevant and influential today. Philosophers, scholars, and thinkers still present and debate his ideas. His faith in reason, individualism, and knowledge as power is still helpful to anyone who wants to understand and change the world.
Milestone moments
Apr 18, 1740
The University of Königsberg admissions
Immanuel Kant enrolled at the University of Königsberg at the age of sixteen, marking his entry into institutions of higher learning.
This was important because it exposed him to higher learning in philosophy, mathematics, and science.
His first teacher was Martin Knutzen, who significantly shaped Kant's philosophical and scientific views and introduced him to Newtonian physics.
At the university, Kant was introduced and given a foundation for philosophy and learning that would be his foundation for the rest of his life.
Jul 18, 1749
The appearance of the work titled "Thoughts on the True Estimation of the Living Forces."
Kant's first work of philosophy, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces, was published in 1749.
This proved that he was already interested in metaphysical and scientific questions at a young age, as he wished to know the nature of things.
Thus, this work can be regarded as Kant's entrance into the academic world and shows the author's efforts to combine philosophical and scientific paradigms.
It led to his later philosophical works and set him off as a philosopher.
Aug 18, 1781
Immanuel Kant comes out with "Critique of Pure Reason."
The Critique of Pure Reason is one of Kant's most significant works, written in 1781. It introduces the idea of transcendental idealism as its central concept.
This work was about the potential and the limitations of human understanding, arguing that the world is seen through the mind's classifications.
This work is a turning point in the development of philosophy and the formation of the rationalist and empiricist traditions.
Even though it faced specific criticism, it placed Kant among the most cited philosophers of the modern world.
Aug 5, 1785
Release of the book "Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals."
The first work considered to bear the kernel of Kant's ethics is Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, published in 1785.
This work puts the categorical imperative as the central ethical principle and focuses on the importance of moral norms.
In Kant's view, moral actions must be taken because one has to, and they must apply to everyone.
This publication significantly impacted ethical philosophy, which determined the course of ethical and moral debates.