Biography of Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) is one of the most influential philosophers in history. His work on epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics was revolutionary, redefining fundamental problems within the tradition of Western philosophy. Kant was born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), which was a mostly German-speaking university town. Kant’s father was a harness maker. Both of his parents subscribed to Pietism, which is a movement within Lutheranism. It emphasized piety and dependence on God. When he was young, Kant attended Collegium Friedricianum, a Pietist school, where he rejected the ideology of Pietism and instead developed a deep interest in Latin studies.

In 1740, Kant attended the University of Königsberg. During his first year, he quickly devoted himself to philosophy. Kant studied logic, ethics, physics, metaphysics, and mathematics. His teacher, Martin Knutzen, introduced him to rationalist thinkers like Christian Wolff and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Kant left the university when his father died in 1748. He then worked as a private tutor near Königsberg for six years, earning a modest income. In 1754, he returned to Königsberg and published two Latin dissertations along with several scientific works, which qualified him to teach at the university as an unpaid lecturer. He held the same position for fifteen years. Later in 1770, he was made the chair of logic and metaphysics, following a series of publications. This made him one of the first major philosophers to have earned a living through university positions.

Scholars usually divide Kant’s philosophical work into two periods: the “pre-critical” period, which was before the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason in 1781, and the “critical” period that followed it. Kant’s earlier publications were primarily scientific, concerned with questions in mathematics and astronomy. His first philosophical works appeared in the 1760s, in which he addressed wide-ranging subjects such as logic, religion, and even the existence of ghosts. When he was appointed chair, he defended his appointment with another Latin treatise called Concerning the Form and Principles of the Sensible and Intelligible World (1770). The dissertation draws a distinction between the ability to perceive and the ability to understand. This theme would be central to his later work.

Around 1771, Kant read the works of David Hume, who awakened him from what he called his “dogmatic slumber.” The problems posed by Hume’s skeptical empiricism prompted Kant to reconsider, if not reject, many of his earlier positions, and he took a ten-year hiatus from publication. He returned with the work widely considered his most significant, the Critique of Pure Reason. However, the book was not immediately well-received. In 1783, Kant published a shorter essay titled Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as a Science to clarify the Critique’s central arguments. In 1787, he heavily revised the Critique and published it again.

The Critique investigates two questions that are central to Kant: “What can we know?” and “How can we know it?” It explores the problem of a priori knowledge, knowledge that is independent of empirical experience. It seeks to reconcile the rationalist defense of such knowledge with empiricist critiques. In 1788, Kant published the Critique of Practical Reason, which is about moral philosophy. It tries to answer the question, “What should we do?” The last critique, the Critique of the Power of Judgment, was published in 1790. This treatise discusses aesthetics and teleology, addressing what Kant believed to be the last central question of philosophy, “What may we hope for?” During this time, Kant also published some of his most widely read texts, including the famous essay “What is Enlightenment?” (1784) and the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785).

In addition to his renown as a philosopher, Kant was known for his strict daily routine: he would get up at 5 AM, smoke a pipe, write, teach, and take a walk every day at the same time, so punctually that some called him “Königsberg’s clock.” His study was stripped of all decoration except for a portrait of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Kant never married or traveled outside of Königsberg. He was a well-loved teacher and a kind host who liked to serve luncheons at his home.

Kant retired in 1797 but continued to write until his health declined. He wrote about the French Revolution, anthropology, and religion. His publications on the latter subject caused him to be censored by the Prussian government for what was widely perceived as an attack on religious authority. He passed away in 1804 in Königsberg, at the age of 80, leaving behind a body of thought that continues to influence philosophy today.