Introducing Kant

by Christopher Kul-Want

Book Overview

Immanuel Kant laid the foundations of modern Western thought. Every subsequent major philosopher owes a profound debt to Kant's attempts to delimit human reason as an appropriate object of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1840460814
• ISBN13: 9781840460810
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Totem Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Illuminating Intro

Clarifies complicated concepts simply and directly, but the book still has depth, and solid scholarly information. Fun approach and guide for students or anyone new to the ideas of Kant and his time.

Kant as inaugural thinker of the post-modern condition

The bad reviews of this book are unfortunate, but perhaps somewhat understandable as it is clearly an unorthodox reading of Kant, where one would expect the orthodox, traditional reading for an introductory text. However, I happen to find the writer's approach very refreshing, as the traditionalist readings of Kant tend to fail to convey contemporary relevance and thus fail to excite the reader about philosophical thinking. This reading brings to life Kant's continuing relevance to philosophy across the board, but especially to the Continental, phenomenological, existential, deconstructive, etc. strands of thought. If you are familiar at all with Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, etc. and their reading of the history of Western metaphysics as a struggle with the concept of 'presence' -- a problem the Anglo-American Analytic tradition tends to misunderstand in their criticisms of phenomenological 'irrationalism' -- then you will find this book a redemption of 'boring old Kant', revealed here as the first thinker to address the problem of the concept of presence (and meaning) in a contemporary way. In this way the book is particularly revealing of the problematic many Continental thinkers have been dealing with (in their admittedly obscure languages) in light of their famous forebear. In another review here by Mr. Joshua Malle, he recognizes and seems to personally appreciate the reading of Kant given in this book, but worries perhaps that it will be too difficult to comprehend for the poor, uninitiated masses who should get something more leveled down. Well, there really are plenty of other introductory titles that give the text-book introduction to Kant. I personally encountered this book before I had a broad grasp of the Continental tradition in general and I found that this book made me interested in Kant, and inspired me to read the other, traditional approaches to him as well. It is often noted that Kant's 3rd Critique -- the Critique of Judgment -- can be read in either a conservative or radical manner for ultimate, metaphysical implications. The latter reading, which appreciates the affirmation of aesthetics, can be understood as the birthplace of what we now call the Continental tradition in philosophy. "Introducing Kant" by Want exemplifies the Continental tradition's reading of Kant as affirming the irreducibly aesthetic character of philosophical practice in the 3rd Critique.

This is a great book to understand kant's thought.

There are two things wonder my mind. One is the starry heavens on top of my head, another one is the moral law which stays in my heart. Immanuel Kant was the greatest philosopher (actually he is the greatest of all time). I find very difficult to understand his books like Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason and so on. But, this book has given me a good introduction and the general & overall picture of Kant's works. Well done to the author. Thank you.