Immanuel Kant

Author of the Critique of Pure Reason and founder of German classical philosophy.

Life

Son of a saddler

Kant was born in Königsberg, Prussia (today Kaliningrad, Russia); his father was a harness maker. He studied and taught at the University of Königsberg and hardly ever left the area around his hometown in his entire life.

The three Critiques

In 1781 he published the Critique of Pure Reason, followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgment, examining the conditions and limits of human knowledge, a philosophical "Copernican revolution." In ethics he formulated the "categorical imperative": act only on the maxim that you would will to become a universal law.

Perpetual peace

He also wrote "What Is Enlightenment?" ("Have the courage to use your own understanding") and Perpetual Peace. He died in 1804.

Legacy

Kant is one of the most important philosophers of the modern West, and his Perpetual Peace is regarded as a precursor of the ideas behind the League of Nations and the United Nations.

Major works & achievements

• Critique of Pure Reason
• Critique of Practical Reason
• Critique of Judgment
• Perpetual Peace

Did you know? He is said to have taken his walk at exactly the same time every day, so that neighbors set their clocks when they saw him go out.

Key dates

• 1755Begins lecturing at the University of Königsberg
• 1770Professor of Logic and Metaphysics
• 1781Publishes Critique of Pure Reason
• 1784Publishes What Is Enlightenment?
• 1795Publishes Perpetual Peace
• 1804Died