Life and creative activity of Immanuel Kant. Kant: biography life ideas philosophy: immanuel kant

Immanuel Kant laid the foundation classical philosophy in Germany. Representatives of the German philosophical school focused on the freedom of the human spirit and will, its sovereignty over nature and the world. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant defined the main task in giving an answer to the main questions that affect the essence of life and the human mind.

Philosophical views of Kant

The beginning of Kant's philosophical activity is called the pre-critical period. The thinker was engaged in natural science issues and the development of important hypotheses in this area. He created a cosmogenic hypothesis about the origin of the solar system from a gaseous nebula. Also, he worked on the theory of the influence of tides on the daily speed of the Earth's rotation. Kant studied not only natural phenomena. He investigated the question of the natural origin of individual human races. He proposed to classify representatives of the animal world in the order of their probable origin.

After these studies, there comes a critical period. Its beginning falls on 1770, when the scientist becomes a professor at the university. essence research activities Kant is reduced to the study of the limitations of the human mind as an instrument of knowledge. The thinker creates his most significant work in this period - "Critique of Pure Reason".

Biographical information

Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 in the small town of Konigsberg, into a poor family of a craftsman. His mother, a peasant woman, sought to raise her son educated. She encouraged his interest in the sciences. The upbringing of the child had a religious bias. The future philosopher had poor health since childhood.

Kant studied at the Friedrichs-Kollegium gymnasium. In 1740 he entered the University of Koenigsberg, but the young man did not have time to finish his studies, he received news of his father's death. In order to earn a living for the family, the future philosopher works as a home tutor in Yudshen for 10 years. At this time, it is necessary to develop his hypothesis that the solar system originated from the original nebula.

In 1755, the philosopher received his doctorate. Kant began teaching at the university, lecturing in geography and mathematics, and gaining more and more popularity. He strives to teach his students to think and look for answers to questions on their own, without resorting to ready-made solutions. Later, he began to give lectures on anthropology, metaphysics and logic.

The scientist has been teaching for 40 years. In the autumn of 1797, he completes pedagogical activity due to his old age. Considering the weakness of his health, Kant adhered to an extremely strict daily routine throughout his life, which helped him live to a ripe old age. He didn't marry. The philosopher never left his native city in his life, and was known and respected in it. He died on February 12, 1804, and was buried in Königsberg.

Gnoseological views of Kant

Epistemology is understood as a philosophical and methodological discipline that studies knowledge as such, as well as studying its structure, development and functioning.

The scientist did not recognize the dogmatic way of knowing. He argued that it is necessary to build on critical philosophizing. He clearly expressed his point of view in the study of the mind and the limits achievable by it.

Kant, in his world-famous Critique of Pure Reason, proves the correctness of agnostic ideas. Agnosticism assumes that it is impossible to prove the truth of propositions based on subjective experience. The predecessors of the philosopher considered the object of knowledge (i.e., the world, reality), as the main cause of the difficulties of cognition. But Kant did not agree with them, suggesting that the reason for the difficulties of cognition lies in the subject of cognition (i.e., in the person himself).

The philosopher speaks of the human mind. He believes that the mind is imperfect and limited in its capabilities. When trying to go beyond the possibilities of cognition, the mind stumbles upon insurmountable contradictions. Kant singled out these contradictions and designated them as antinomies. Using reason, a person is able to prove both statements of the antinomy, despite the fact that they are opposite. It boggles the mind. Kant argued how the presence of antinomies proves that there are limits to human cognitive abilities.

Views on ethical theory

The philosopher studies ethics in detail, and expresses his attitude in the works that later became famous - "Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morality" and "Critique of Practical Reason". According to the views of the philosopher, moral principles originate from practical reason, which develops into will. A characteristic feature of the ethics of the thinker is that non-moral views and arguments do not affect moral principles. He takes as a guide those norms that come from the "pure" moral will. The scientist believes that there is something that unites moral norms, and is looking for it.

The thinker introduces the concept of "hypothetical imperative" (also, it is called conditional or relative). Under the imperative understand the moral law, coercion to action. A hypothetical imperative is a principle of action that is effective in achieving a particular goal.

Also, the philosopher introduces the opposite concept - the "categorical imperative", which should be understood as a single supreme principle. This principle should prescribe actions that are objectively good. The categorical imperative can be described by the following Kantian rule: one should act according to a principle that can be made a general law for all people.

Aesthetics of Kant

In his work Critique of Judgment, the thinker thoroughly discusses the issue of aesthetics. He regards the aesthetic as something pleasing in an idea. In his opinion, there is the so-called power of judgment, as the highest faculty of feeling. It is between reason and reason. The power of judgment is able to unite pure reason and practical reason.

The philosopher introduces the concept of "expediency" in relation to the subject. According to this theory, there are two types of expediency:

1. External - when an animal or object can be useful to achieve a specific goal: a person uses the strength of a bull to plow the land.
2. Internal - that which causes a feeling of beauty in a person.

The thinker believes that the feeling of beauty arises in a person precisely when he does not consider an object in order to apply it practically. In aesthetic perception, the main role is played by the form of the observed object, and not its expediency. Kant believes that something beautiful is liked by people without understanding.

The power of reason harms the aesthetic sense. This happens because the mind tries to dismember the beautiful and analyze the relationship of details. The power of beauty eludes man. It is impossible to learn to feel beautiful consciously, but you can gradually cultivate a sense of beauty in yourself. To do this, a person needs to observe harmonious forms. Similar forms are found in nature. It is also possible to develop aesthetic taste through contact with the world of art. This world was created to discover beauty and harmony, and acquaintance with works of art - The best way develop a sense of beauty.

Influence on the world history of philosophy

The critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant is rightly called the most important synthesis of systems previously developed by scientists from all over Europe. The works of the philosopher can be considered the great crown of all previous philosophical views. The activities and achievements of Kant became the starting point from which the newest philosophy began. Kant created a brilliant synthesis of all the important ideas of his contemporaries and predecessors. He revised the ideas of empiricism and theories of Locke, Leibniz, Hume.

Kant created a general model, using criticism in relation to existing theories. He added to the already existing ideas his own, original, generated by his brilliant mind. In the future, criticism, laid down by a scientist, will become an indisputable condition in relation to any philosophical idea. Criticism cannot be refuted or destroyed, it can only be developed.

The most important merit of the thinker is his solution of a deep, ancient problem that divides philosophers into supporters of rationalism or empiricism. Kant worked through this issue in order to show the representatives of both schools the narrowness and one-sidedness of their thinking. He found a variant that reflects the real interaction of intelligence and experience in the history of human knowledge.

Immanuel Kant is a German thinker, the founder of classical philosophy and the theory of criticism. Kant's immortal quotes have gone down in history, and the scientist's books form the basis of philosophy worldwide.

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

There were 12 children in the Kant family, and Immanuel was born the fourth, many of the children died in infancy from diseases. Three sisters and two brothers survived.

The house where Kant spent his childhood with a 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 craftsmen. Historians have long argued what nationality Kant belongs to, some of them believed that the ancestors of the philosopher 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 relatives maternal line lived in Nunberg, Germany.

Kant's parents laid spiritual education in their son, they were adherents of a special trend in Lutheranism - pietism. The essence of this teaching is that each person is under God's eye, therefore, preference was given to personal piety. Anna Regina taught her son the basics of faith, and also instilled in little Kant a love for the world around him.

The devout Anna Regina took her children with her to sermons and Bible studies. Doctor of theology Franz Schultz often visited the Kant family, where he noticed that Immanuel was succeeding in studying the Holy Scriptures and was able to express his own thoughts.

When Kant was eight years old, on the instructions of Schulz, his parents sent him to one of the leading schools in Koenigsberg, the Friedrich Gymnasium, so that the boy would receive a prestigious education.

Kant studied at school for eight years, from 1732 to 1740. Classes in the gymnasium began at 7:00 and lasted until 9:00. The disciples studied theology, the Old and New testaments, Latin, German and Greek, geography, etc. Philosophy was taught only in the upper grades, 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. Yes, and strict rules and customs in the religious school Kant did not like. The future philosopher was in poor health, but he studied with diligence thanks to his intelligence and quick wits.

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

Official information that Kant was listed in the Albertina did not reach his contemporaries, therefore 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 died soon after. A large family had to make ends meet. Immanuel had nothing to wear, and also did not have enough money for food, he was fed by wealthy classmates. Sometimes the young man did not even have shoes, and they had to be borrowed from friends. But the guy treated all the 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 Wolff, whose philosophy dominated Germany. The critical time in Kant's work is the idea of ​​metaphysics as a science, as well as the creation of a new doctrine, which is based on the theory of the activity of consciousness.

First editions of Immanuel Kant's works

Immanuel writes his first essay “Thoughts on the true assessment of living forces” at the university under the influence of the 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 essays, which formed the basis of his works.

House of pastor Anders, where Kant taught in 1747-1751

In 1755, Immanuel Kant returned to the University of Königsberg to defend his dissertation "On Fire" and receive a master's degree. In autumn, the philosopher receives his doctorate for his work in the field of the theory of knowledge "New illumination of the first principles of metaphysical knowledge" and begins to teach 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 "The General Natural History and Theory of the Sky", in which Kant tells about the origin of the Universe. In his work, Kant relies not on theology, but on physics.

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

The 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 works of the philosopher became the basis of world doctrine. 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 hollow chest. However, Immanuel tried to keep himself in order and often visited the tailor and the hairdresser.

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

It is not known 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 marry.

Immanuel was never late and followed the daily routine to the minute. Every day he went to one cafe in order to drink a cup of tea. Moreover, Kant came at the same time: the waiters did not even have to look at the clock. 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 advanced age. Every morning Immanuel began at 5 o'clock. Without taking off his night clothes, Kant went to his office, where the philosopher's servant Martin Lampe was preparing a cup of weak green tea and a smoking pipe for the owner. According to Martin's memoirs, Kant had a strange feature: while in the office, the scientist put on a cocked hat right over the cap. Then he slowly drank tea, smoked tobacco and read the outline of the upcoming lecture. Immanuel spent at least two hours at his desk.

At 7 am, Kant changed his clothes and went down to the lecture hall, where devoted listeners were waiting for him: sometimes there were not even enough seats. He lectured slowly, diluting philosophical ideas humor.

Immanuel paid attention even to minor details in the image of the interlocutor, he would not communicate with a student who was sloppily dressed. Kant even forgot what he was telling the audience 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 was preparing for the dinner reception of guests and ordered the cook to prepare the table: the philosopher hated to eat alone, especially the scientist ate once a day. The table abounded with food, the only thing missing from the meal was beer. Kant disliked the malt drink and believed that beer, unlike wine, had a bad taste.

Kant dined with his favorite spoon, which he kept with his money. At the table, the news taking place in the world was discussed, but not philosophy at all.

Death

The scientist lived the rest of his life in a house, being in abundance. Despite careful monitoring of health, the body of the 75-year-old philosopher began to weaken: first, his physical strength left him, and then his mind began to grow cloudy. In his advanced years, Kant could not lecture, and for dining table the scientist accepted only close friends.

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

Later, the scientist began to forget the words, and life began to fade faster. Died great philosopher February 12, 1804. Before his death, Kant said: "Es ist gut" ("It's good").

Immanuel was buried near the Königsberg Cathedral, 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 metaphysics of morality;
• Criticism of the ability of judgment;

Immanuel Kant (German Immanuel Kant; April 22, 1724, Königsberg, Prussia - February 12, 1804, ibid.) - German philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy, standing on the verge of the Enlightenment and romanticism.

Born in 1724 in Königsberg in a poor family of a saddle maker, a native of Scotland. The boy was named after Saint Immanuel.

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 in 1740 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 1747-1755, that he developed and published his cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from the original nebula, which has not lost its relevance to this day.

In 1755, Kant defended his dissertation and received a doctorate, which finally 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. The period of Russian occupation was the least productive in Kant's work: for all the years of the domination of the Russian Empire over East Prussia, only a few essays on earthquakes came out from the philosopher's pen; on the contrary, immediately after the end of the occupation, Kant published a whole series of works. (Later Kant said: "Russians are our main enemies".)

Kant's natural-science and philosophical researches are supplemented by "political science" opuses; so, in the treatise "Towards Eternal Peace", he first prescribed cultural and philosophical foundations 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.

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.

Despite his philosophy, he could sometimes show ethnic prejudices, in particular, 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.

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 were posed by the 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.

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 "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 distinctions between analytic 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 judgment predicate follows from the content of its subject (such are analytic judgments) or, conversely, is added to it "from 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. As for a priori synthetic judgments, they, according to Kant, 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 between 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 - space and time. 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, 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.

1.Unity
2.Set
3. Wholeness

1.Reality
2. Denial
3.Restriction

1. Substance and belonging
2. Cause and effect
3.Interaction

1. Possibility and impossibility
2. Existence and non-existence
3. 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 are exactly the same.

The basis of any synthesis is, according to Kant, the transcendental unity of apperception (“apperception” is a term). This is logical self-consciousness, “a generating representation I think, which must be able to accompany all other representations and be the same in every consciousness.”

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 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 mediator between thinking and sensibility in Kant is the 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 the 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 application 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 the mind, when it tries to get unambiguous and conclusive answers to the actual philosophical questions, 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 experience, it "entangles itself" 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

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 - a categorical imperative that prescribes actions that are good in themselves, objectively, without regard to any goal other than morality itself (for example, the requirement of honesty).

- “act only according to such a maxim, guided by which at the same time you can 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 could wish for 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 person (as well as in the person of any other) always as an end and never - only as a means"];

- “the principle of the will of each person as a will that establishes universal laws with all its maxims”: one should “do everything based on the maxim of one’s will as one that 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: a person 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 certain 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 the spiritual strength to fulfill their duty in spite of internal and external obstacles, Kant puts forward the second postulate: “the immortality of the human soul must exist.” 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."

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 aspired in his education and teaching to the ideal of a broad practical knowledge about a person, 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 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 gave 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 cathedral Koenigsberg.

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. Man is a subject 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. Deviating 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 (the relationship of individuals as owners) and public law (the relationship 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 give great importance 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 as 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 outwardly, formally, he is always obliged to fulfill it. laws and regulations.

An important proposition 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 order, "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."

And, to one degree or another, for all subsequent philosophical thought.

Born April 22, 1724 in Konigsberg (East Prussia) in the family of a saddler Johann Georg Kant. Kant's parents were Protestants (professed pietism), which could not but affect the formation of the views of the philosopher. In 1730, Kant entered elementary school, and in the fall of 1732 - at the Collegium Fridericianum, a pietist state church gymnasium in the Latin department.

September 24, 1740 enrolled as a student at 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. One of his teachers, Martin Knutzen, introduced Kant to Newton's concept, which led to the first work - Thoughts on the true evaluation of living forces ending his student years. After the book's publication, Kant sent copies to the Swiss scientist and poet Albrecht Haller and the mathematician Leonhard Euler, but received no reply. In 1743, Kant left Koenigsberg and became a home teacher, first in the family of pastor Andrem in Yudschen (Lithuania), then - the landowner von Hülsen, and Count Kaiserling. Kant sought to raise funds for independent living and an academic career. It was during this period that a manuscript on astronomy was created. Cosmogony or an attempt to explain the origin of the universe, the formation of celestial bodies and the reasons for their movement by the general laws of the development of matter in accordance with Newton's theory on a competition theme proposed by the Prussian Academy of Sciences. But he did not dare to take part in the competition.

Kant returned to Königsberg in 1753 with the hope of starting a career at Königsberg University. Simultaneously with the dissertation About fire (De inge), for which he received a doctorate on June 12, 1755 philosophical sciences, he published articles in the collection "Weekly Koenigsberg messages", in which he considered certain issues of physical geography. Also published in 1754 Cosmogony… And The question of whether the Earth is aging from a physical point of view. These articles prepared the publication of the cosmological treatise General natural history and theory of the sky, or an attempt to interpret the structure and mechanistic origin of the entire universe, based on the principles of Newton, in which Kant shows how our solar system could be formed from the initial chaos of material particles, the creator of which is God, under the influence of material causes. Considered and prepared most was in advance, in those years when Kant worked as a teacher. In this work, forty years before Laplace, he put forward a nebular cosmogonic theory. In General Natural History and Theory of the Sky the world is defined as infinite not only in the spatial sense, but also in the sense of becoming. The formative principle cannot cease to operate - from this assumption arose the Kant-Laplace theory. In addition, in this work, Kant proceeded from the interdependence of theory and empiricism, experience and speculation. He comes to the conclusion that a hypothesis, speculation, must go beyond the content of the data, provided that the results obtained by it coincide with the data of experience and observation. In the same work, for the first time, the concept of practical reason was mentioned, which was understood as the general moral purpose of man, as well as the sum of knowledge about the world and man - striving for the ideals of the Enlightenment, a person must understand that he is part of nature and, ultimately, rise above it to justify their place in creation.

The book remained unknown to the general public due to an unfortunate accident: its publisher went bankrupt, the warehouse was sealed, and the book never went on sale.

In order to get the right to lecture, it was not enough for Kant to have a doctorate. He had to undergo habilitation - the defense of a special dissertation in a public discussion, which he successfully did on September 27, 1755. The dissertation was called New illumination of the first principles of metaphysical knowledge (Principiorum primorum cognitionis metaphysicae nova dilucidatio) and was devoted to the search for a connection between natural science and philosophy, thinking with experience. In it, Kant explored the principle of sufficient reason established by Leibniz, the difference between the basis of the being of an object and the basis of its knowledge, the real and logical basis. Freedom was understood by him as a conscious determination of an act, as the attachment of the will to the motives of the mind in line with the Leibnian-Wolfian philosophy. In general, the pre-critical period is characterized by Kant's appeal to the natural sciences, the physical and mathematical sphere. The subject of his interest is the Earth, its position in space.

After the defense, Kant finally received permission to lecture. He gave his first lecture in the autumn of 1755 at Professor Kipke's house, where he then lived. In the first year of his associate professorship, he lectured on logic and metaphysics, on physical geography and general natural science, on problems of theoretical and practical mathematics and mechanics, sometimes twenty-eight hours a week.

During the war between Prussia and France, Austria and Russia, Koenigsberg was captured by Russian troops and swore allegiance to the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Kant read fortification and pyrotechnics for Russian officers. He wrote almost nothing because of the heavy workload, except for a number of small, only a few pages, works, each of which, however, is interesting and contains an original point of view. These include: New theory of motion and rest dedicated to the basics of mechanics, New remarks to clarify the theory of winds. One of them Monadologia physica Physical monadology, in which a new form of atomistics is defended, he claimed an extraordinary (without salary) professorship. It would seem that Kant had the opportunity to receive this appointment, which would save him from material dependence - the professor of philosophy Kipke died. But five more applicants applied for the vacated place. December 14, 1758 Kant wrote a letter to the Russian Empress Elizabeth with a request to appoint him to the post of ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics at the Königsberg Academy. However, the mathematician Bukk, who was older in age and teaching experience, got the place.

In 1759 he writes Experience of some reasoning about optimism, in which Kant sought to find a solution to the problem of the best world (the dispute between Rousseau and Voltaire about the best of the worlds). Jean-Jacques Rousseau became Kant's second Newton. Job 1762 - Observations on the sense of the sublime and the beautiful brought him fame as a fashionable author. This year was a turning point for the philosopher. Although he continued to be interested in the natural and exact sciences (in 1763 he graduated The experience of introducing the concept of negative quantities into philosophy), but now the main thing for him was not private questions, but the principles of studying nature as a whole. The work is connected with the concept of force - as given by Leibniz and as given by Newton. The particular question of the possibility of the action of force at a distance turned into a dispute about the essence of force. This work served as a forerunner Treatise on Method- the first philosophical and physical work of Kant, an attempt to establish the method of natural philosophy.

In 1763, the Berlin Academy of Sciences proposed a competition topic that attracted the attention of German philosophical circles: "Are the metaphysical sciences capable of the same evidence as the mathematical ones?" Such thinkers as Lambert, Tetens and Mendelssohn took up the solution of this problem. For Kant, the problem was of particular interest. Previously, in 1762 he wrote articles The only possible justification for proving the existence of God And An inquiry into the degree of clarity of the principles of natural theology and morality(the last was published only in 1764) to argue and present their attitude to theology. The proof of the existence of God, based on the expediency of the structure of the world, he finds "the most consistent with both the merits and weaknesses of the human mind." With this proof, God is the architect of matter, but matter itself is recognized as a separate entity independent of God, which entails primordial dualism. It is necessary to proceed not from the construction of the real, in order to discover in it evidence of a higher will, which formed the latter of its own accord, - one must rely on the knowledge of higher truths and, proceeding from them, gain access to the certainty of absolute being. To do this, it is worth relying on common and necessary connections, inviolable norms, both for the finite and for the infinite mind. In this case, Kant speaks of the necessary and the accidental in the language of Leibniz. Can we achieve the certainty of absolute existence? Kant answers this question in the affirmative. The proof is the fact that if there were no absolute being, then there could not be ideal relations, correspondence or opposition between them. The very fact that matter exists and is ordered by approximately the same concepts (there are such constructions as a rectangle and a circle) is proof of the existence of absolute being.

He began to develop the problem proposed by the Berlin Academy after completing The only possible justification... because I saw a direct connection between this issue and my work. Now he does not simply turn to the object of cognition, he demands from himself an account of the uniqueness of that cognition by means of which the object is proposed and communicated to knowledge. Kant did not win the competition, Moses Mendelssohn received the first prize, but Kant's work was said to deserve the highest praise. Both writings, Kant's and Mendelssohn's, were published in Proceedings of the Academy.

In 1764 Kant turned 40 years old. He is still a privatdozent, therefore he does not receive any money from the university. Neither lectures nor publications made it possible to overcome material uncertainty. According to Yachman, 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 spent a lot of time in society, participated in secular life. Haman says in 1764 that Kant had a lot of plans for small and large works in his head, but with the fuss of entertainment to which he attaches, he is unlikely to complete them. Kant's teaching at this time also had a tinge of secularism. He aspired in his education and teaching to the ideal of broad practical knowledge about man.

This 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. Students, as Borovsky writes, turned to him on all matters of life: with a request to give them a course of eloquence, with a request to give the burial of the Koenigsber professor due solemnity, etc. By decision of the Prussian government, he was offered in 1764 to take the chair of poetry at the University of Königsber: his duties would include censoring all poems "in case" and preparing German and Latin carmina - songs for academic festivities. Despite the difficult situation, Kant refused. After some time, he achieved the position of librarian with a salary of 62 thalers.

By the end of the 1760s, Kant had already become known beyond the borders of Prussia. In 1766 he wrote a work Dreams of a visionary explained by dreams of a metaphysician- directed against the mystic Swedenborg, as well as with criticism of metaphysics. In 1768 - work On the first basis of the difference of sides in space, in which he began to move away from the Leibniz-Wolfian installations.

In 1769 Professor Hausen from Halle intended to publish Biographies of famous philosophers and historians of the 18th century in Germany and abroad. Kant was included in the collection, and Hausen turned to him for material. Almost simultaneously, an invitation came to work in Erlangen at the Department of Theoretical Philosophy. Kant rejected this proposal, along with the proposal that came in January from Jena. The philosopher referred to attachment to his home, his native city and to glimpses of a close vacancy - the post of professor of mathematics was vacated. March 31, 1770 by special decree of the king, he was appointed ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics. Kant occupied this position until his death and performed his duties with his usual punctuality.

Previously, Kant defended the dissertation required for this position, About the forms and principles of the sensually perceived and intelligible world, in which it separates the sensual and intelligible worlds in different directions. Some researchers consider this work to be a turning point. Sensibility gives us: "... the causes of knowledge, expressing the relation of the object to the special properties of the knowing subject ...". In a letter to Lambert that accompanied the donation copy of his dissertation, Kant proposes the creation of a special discipline with the task of delineating the boundaries of sensory knowledge. He completed this task in Critique of Pure Reason, which was published only 11 years later, in May 1781.

IN Critique of Pure Reason Kant addresses the nature of knowledge as such. He wanted to find out what the question of being means in general. What specific results metaphysics can achieve by answering this question - this worried Kant in earlier works. Kant starts from criticism of epistemology, both empirical and rationalistic. Their vice is that both start with a set of statements about reality, about the nature of things and the soul. Kant, on the other hand, takes as a starting point not an object, but a specific regularity of cognition - our own mind. Reason, processing the experience gained, operates with judgments. Judgments are analytical and synthetic. With the help of analytical judgments, already existing experience is ordered. This is an analysis of existing knowledge, clarifying the concepts of things. On the contrary, thanks to synthetic judgments, the understanding is able to obtain knowledge that is not available in direct experience. Such judgments can be made on the basis of already existing accumulated experience - Kant calls them a posteriori, based on empirical knowledge about the world. But experiential judgments, tied to specific conditions of experience, can only have a conditional or comparative universality. A priori judgments are unconditional, independent of any experience, i.e. necessary. Only synthetic a priori judgments can be a solid foundation for science. Mathematical judgments are synthetic, natural science contains a priori synthetic judgments as principles. Metaphysics, too, must contain such judgments in order to be a rigorous science.

Objective laws characterize and define the concepts of experience in the process of its synthesis. Synthesis is necessary in order to represent the object given in sensory experience. For example, in order to conceive of such an object as a house, we must imagine all four of its sides, although this is impossible in direct experience. Phenomena can only be grasped through the synthesis of the manifold, and the creation of a synthetic unity is possible thanks to such constructs as space and time. They are a priori and are forms of synthesis, since only within the framework of space and time is it possible to conceive of experience in its continuity and completeness. Methods of synthesis Kant considers in the second section Critics of Pure Reason– Transcendental analytics. He names 12 categories, reminiscent of the categories of Aristotle, which are the original pure concepts of synthesis: unity, plurality, totality, reality, negation, limitation, inherent and independent existence, causality and dependence, communication, possibility, existence, necessity. The next part of the book is Transcendental dialectic in which Kant sought to eliminate the false objects of knowledge. If in the two previous parts Kant developed his views, defending the possibility of cognition from Humean skepticism, then in dialectics the claim to cognition by reason of what is beyond experience is criticized. For the purposes of this criticism, Kant considered four antinomies (antinomy is a logical construction in which the same thesis can be both proved and refuted): about the boundaries of the world, about simple and complex, about freedom and necessity, and about God. In order to show the senselessness of attempts to cognize these objects, he proves both their necessity and the refutation of their necessity, thereby referring them to noumena (things unknowable by the means of reason). Only phenomena are given to the understanding - data obtained from experience and which are reflections of things - in-themselves - and not the faculty of contemplation itself. If we cannot cognize noumena, we can only accept them as postulates of cognition. The paradox of the theory of phenomena and noumenons lies in the fact that a person himself is both at the same time. It is included in the physical world and has a way out of its limits, that is, it is a thing-in-itself.

Since the book was expected for a long time, its release did not cause a sensation, rather, it was accepted without interest. Only occasionally did complaints of incomprehensibility reach. To popularize ideas critics Kant writes an arrangement of the book which he calls Prolegomena to any future metaphysics that may appear as a science. The book was published in the spring of 1783. This work is much shorter critics, but no more understandable, hence also unpopular. The popularization of labor was finally carried out in 1785 by Pastor Schultz, who published the book An Explanatory Exposition of the Critique of Pure Reason. In 1787 Criticism re-published. Kant was elected rector of the university and a member of the Berlin Academy.

In the mid-eighties, Kant became interested in the philosophy of history and law. In November 1784 an article was published The idea of ​​universal history in the world-civil plan, which outlines the main socio-political ideas. He later developed these ideas in the first part Metaphysics of morals, in the article The alleged beginning of human history and in the treatise To eternal peace(1795). The Kantian approach is based on the concept of natural law. All people are equal before the law. The goal of laws is a universal legal civil society, the main task of which is to exclude any possibility of injustice, to guarantee natural rights person. The basic human right is the right to freedom, which can coexist with the freedom of all. However, the state controls not only the rights of citizens, but also their obligations towards the state. The main duty of a citizen is to observe the laws of society. The main person of the state is the monarch. He embodies law and justice. However, Kant, accepting the fact that the monarch still remains human and capable of mistakes, insists on the need for separation of powers.

Kant's legal theory is based on his ethical concept. In 1785 he wrote Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morality, and in 1788 - Critique of practical reason containing the formulation of his ethical views. Practical reason is reason capable of being in itself the basis for action, its root cause. Everything in the world is subject to physical necessity, including man. But man, among other things, has an autonomous good will, which is such regardless of the circumstances. The ability to follow this good will makes a person free from physical necessity, gives him the opportunity to perform an act that is not included as a link in the chain of necessity, but starts a new chain. Of particular importance in this concept is the role of a motive: what guided a person when performing actions - a moral motive or inclination, circumstances. Accordingly, whether it was moral and free or forced. Performing an act, a person is guided by imperatives. Kant distinguishes between categorical and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are skill imperatives, recipes for achieving certain social goals and benefits. Categorical imperatives or laws of morality are principles of good will, a priori and independent of circumstances, by acting in accordance with which we go beyond the boundaries of physical necessity. The categorical imperative is: act only in accordance with such a maxim, guided by which you can at the same time wish it to become a universal law.

A similar concept arose as a logical continuation of the line begun Critique of pure reason and as a continuation of the general criticism of eudemonism - the opposition of inclination and duty. The main concept of the concept is the highest good, the moral order, which is based on the principle of well-deserved happiness. A morally developed subject is an ever-improving member of the supersensible world arranged by a good and just world-keeper.

Kant continued to work in the field of natural science. Two years before the start of the competition, he wrote the work Metaphysical principles of natural science and two articles: About volcanoes and the moon And Something about the influence of the moon. He also took an active part in practical research: for example, the construction of the first lightning rod in Koenigsberg is associated with his name.

But Kant did not stop at two "Critiques ...", he felt that there should be one more link between the world of freedom and ethics. In 1787, he informed his friend Reingold about the discovery of a new universal principle of spiritual activity: the principle of pleasure and displeasure. Thus, three main abilities of the human psyche are distinguished: cognitive, volitional and evaluative. Cognitive is considered in Critique of Pure Reason, strong-willed - in Critique of Practical Reason, and estimated in the book Criticism of the faculty of judgment. Kant planned to finish the work in 1788, but it took another two years to publish it.

Criticism of the faculty of judgment talks about a special type of judgment - judgments of taste, which, on the one hand, are uninterested, on the other hand, ignorant, do not belong either to the realm of nature or to the realm of freedom, but are associated with the supersensible. The book consists of two parts: Critique of aesthetic judgment And Critics of the teleological faculty of judgment. The first part contains the theory of the beautiful and the sublime. The experience of beauty is a special disinterested pleasure that we experience when contemplating the form of an object. The attitude to a given object not as a means, not in relation to some theoretical concept, excites the free play of cognitive abilities, which brings the imagination into harmony with reason. The feeling of harmony is the formal expediency of the object. If contemplative pleasure is associated with an object for a large number of people, the object is said to be beautiful. A thing is called sublime if no image created by us corresponds to its idea. The second part explains the teleological doctrine and the doctrine of the ideas of reason. In it, Kant formulates an antinomy, the first maxim of which is: "Every occurrence of material things and their forms must be considered as possible only according to mechanical laws." The second maxim: “Some products of material nature cannot be considered as possible only according to mechanical laws” (judging about them requires a completely different law of causality, namely the law of final causes), Kant is looking for the basis for the synthesis of goal and causality causality, ultimately, in man - it is man, remaining subject to the laws of causality, who can build the realm of goals and create goal causality.

The seventy-year-old philosopher entered into a confrontation with the authorities. The reason was the writing of a number of articles against the dogmas of the church. The last straw was the article The end of everything. Despite this, in 1794 the Russian Academy of Sciences elected the philosopher as a member. It was impossible to publicly blame the world famous scientist - in October 1794 Kant received a reprimand from the king, but the order demanding that he refuse to publicly express his point of view on this topic came as a private letter. Kant decided that in this case silence is the duty of the subject.

Kant continued to publish articles and works. Between 1795 and 1798 he wrote To eternal peace, About the organ of the soul, Metaphysics of morals, Notification of the imminent signing of a treaty on perpetual peace in philosophy, About the imaginary right to lie out of philanthropy, Faculties dispute.

The scientist's strength waned, he gradually reduced the number of lectures. The last lecture was given to him on June 23, 1796.

In November 1801, the philosopher finally parted ways with the university. His condition deteriorated sharply. Back in 1799, Kant ordered his own funeral: he asked that they take place on the third day after his death and be modest. He died February 12, 1804 in Konigsberg.

Editions: Lectures on ethics. M., ed. "Republic", 2000; Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morality. M., ed. "Thought", 1999; Compositions in German and Russian. M., ed. JSC KAMI, 1994; Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view. SPb., ed. "Science", 2002; Critique of pure reason. Simferopol, ed. Renome, 1998; Works in 6 volumes, M., ed. "Thought", 1965.

Anastasia Blucher