Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) born in humble circumstances in Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad) in the kingdom of Prussia became a professor at its university and one of the outstanding intellectual figures of his generation. With wide-ranging interests in the natural sciences, mathematics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, law, metaphysics and theology he had a major influence on the romantic movement, contributed to political and natural law theory and provided what is still one of the most significant frameworks for conceptualising ethics.

Centrepiece of his life’s work is the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), whose theory of knowledge steers a middle course between a classical scholastic approach to metaphysical knowledge (optimistic) and inner-worldly enlightenment approaches (dismissive). His influence is still felt in every area of modern western philosophy and he has had a major impact on nineteenth and twentieth century theology.

This course assumes that you have some background in the history of ideas and that you seriously want to get to grips with Kant’s text. The aim is to help you read Kant for yourself. We will focus attention on the first critique, beginning with the background of Kant’s own intellectual history and context. Then, we’ll look at how he uses the conceptual framework he has thus created to underpin his intuitions about ethics and aesthetics. You will be invited to read passages of extended argument in the comfort of your own home, and during our time together to work with one another first on comprehending, and then on critiquing the text.

You will find it helpful to write notes for yourself as you go through the readings for the week so that you have a chance to focus your thoughts for the class. At home, concentrate on the questions: What exactly is he trying to say? Why does he think this is plausible? In class we will spend time with those questions but attempt to move on to: Do we find this argument plausible? If so why? If not, why not? You may also find it helpful to take notes of discussion in class and to write up your own response at the end of each session. Should you do so, at the end of the course I shall be happy to read and give feedback on your exegesis and philosophical responses (if you would like that).

Level of intellectual challenge (ic): 1 (extreme) 2 (high) 3 (moderate) 4 (easy)

We will be using or referring to the following texts in translation. I will provide the extracts for each week. If you want to follow up for yourself beyond this course, you may want to buy a copy of one or more of the texts for yourself:

Critique of Pure Reason, Norman Kemp Smith (MacMillan) (ic1) Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Mary McGregor and Christine Korsgard (CUP) (ic2) Critique of Practical Reason, Mary McGregor and Andrew Reath (CUP) (ic2) Metaphysics of Morals, Mary McGregor and Roger J Sullivan (CUP) (ic2) Critique of Judgment, Werner S Pluhar (Hackett) (ic2) Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, Wood, Giovanni, Adams (CUP) (ic3) Perpetual Peace and Other Essays, Ted Humphrey (Hackett) (ic3) Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant: Theoretical Philosophy 1755-1770, David Wolfe, Ralf Meerbote (CUP) (ic2/ic3)

You also may want to purchase for easy reference

Kant: a very short Introduction by Roger Scruton (OUP) (ic3)

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Week 1 Kant Before the Critiques (ic2)

In this class we will look at background elements in Kant’s life, mid-eighteenth century intellectual culture (Leibniz, Euler, Hume and Newton), and aspects of his work from before the first critique. We will pay special attention to the early Latin text A new explanation of the first principles of metaphysical knowledge (1755) and the later On the form and principles of the sensible and intelligible worlds (1770).

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Week 2 The Critique of Pure Reason: time, space and causation (ic1)

This week explores themes from Kant’s analysis of human cognition, with a focus on his theory of time and space as ‘pure forms of intuition’ and his deduction of the ‘pure concepts of the understanding’. We will see how he uses these to guarantee mathematical and scientific knowledge.

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Week 3 The Limits of Metaphysics (ic1)

We will look at the consequences of Kant’s theory for classical metaphysics. Highlights include Kant’s ‘proof’ of an external world (contra Descartes), the sceptical ‘paralogisms of pure reason’ and the space Kant leaves for a minimalist ethical theology as a set of ‘regulative ideas’.

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Week 4 Freedom and the law of Reason: Ethics and Politics (ic2)

We now move on to Kant’s ethical writings and try and understand how he fits his own deep intuitions about the nature of human freedom and ultimate value into his new epistemological model to yield ethical knowledge under the ‘pure form of a law’. Highlights include extracts from the Critique of Practical Reason and the Metaphysics of Morals.

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Week 5 Beauty, the Sublime and True Religion (ic3)

Kant had a profound influence on the Romantic movement which leaves its trace in the writings of (among others) the English romantic poets. He also had strong views about the relationship between a sensibility for the sublime and a humane religion purified of unnecessary and distorting accretions. This week will explore extracts from the Critique of Judgment and from Religion within the Boundaries of mere Reason.