Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View

By Immanuel Kant

Book Overview

In the fall semester of 1772/73 at the Albertus University of K nigsberg, Immanuel Kant, metaphysician and professor of logic and metaphysics, began lectures on anthropology, which he continued until 1776, shortly before his retirement from public life. His lecture notes and papers were first published in 1798, eight years after the publication of the Critique of Judgment, the third of his famous Critiques. The present edition of the Anthropology is a translation of the text found in volume 7 of Kants gesammelte Schriften, edited by Oswald K lpe.

Kant describes the Anthropology as a systematic doctrine of the knowledge of humankind. (He does not yet distinguish between the academic discipline of anthropology as we understand it today and the philosophical.) Kant's lectures stressed the "pragmatic" approach to the subject because he intended to establish pragmatic anthropology as a regular academic discipline. He differentiates the physiological knowledge of the human race--the investigation of "what Nature makes of man"--from the pragmatic--"what man as a free being makes of himself, what he can make of himself, and what he ought to make of himself." Kant believed that anthropology teaches the knowledge of humankind and makes us familiar with what is pragmatic, not speculative, in relation to humanity. He shows us as world citizens within the context of the cosmos.

Summarizing the cloth edition of the Anthropology, Library Journal concludes: "Kant's allusions to such issues as sensation, imagination, judgment, (aesthetic) taste, emotion, passion, moral character, and the character of the human species in regard to the ideal of a cosmopolitan society make this work an important resource for English readers who seek to grasp the connections among Kant's metaphysics of nature, metaphysics of morals, and political theory. The notes of the editor and translator, which incorporate material from Ernst Cassirer's edition and from Kant's marginalia in the original manuscript, shed considerable light on the text."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809306239
• ISBN13: 9780809306237
• Release Date: June 1978
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 1.3" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Kant's Psychology

Kant's Anthropology is what we call today - psychology. The book is a series of lectures that Kant himself edited into a book. Usualy we know Kant as hard to read, yet this book is unique in that. It flows, from subject to subject, examining man's mind and various characteristics of the human spirit. It is embodied with examples from life and literature, and gives a very good idea of Kants views regarding everyday life and behavior of normal people, and also of insane ones. It is a very warm book, filled with intelligent remarks about the human race, and it gives a very good notion of psychology (both cognitive and abnormal) in Kants days. I recommend it Highly.