Kant lifetime. Immanuel Kant - biography, information, personal life

Immanuel Kant is the founder of German classical idealism. He lived all his life in the city of Königsberg (East Prussia, now Kaliningrad, Russian Federation), for many years he taught at the local university. The range of his scientific interests was not limited to purely philosophical problems. He proved himself as an outstanding natural scientist.

Kant's main works

• "The General Natural History and Theory of the Sky" (1755)
• "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781)
• "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788)
• "Critique of the Faculty of Judgment" (1790).

Kant's scientific activity is usually divided into subcritical and critical periods. The pre-critical period of Kant's activity falls on the 50s and 60s of the 18th century. At this time, he was mainly engaged in the study of a number of natural science problems related to astronomy and biology. In 1755, his book "The General Natural History and Theory of the Sky" was published, which outlined his hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from the original incandescent dusty nebula (the so-called Kant-Laplace hypothesis). In this hypothesis, the entire ideological part belongs to Kant, and the mathematical assessment of the possibility of such a process and the stability of the emerging planetary system belongs to the French mathematician P. Laplace. This hypothesis existed in astronomy until the middle of the last century, when the modern concept of the "big bang" was at the disposal of cosmologists.

In the same period, Kant established that under the influence of the Moon's attraction, the Earth's daily rotation slows down, and, ultimately (in about 4-5 billion years according to modern concepts), this will lead to the fact that the Earth will forever turn one side to the Sun, and the other side of it will plunge into eternal darkness. Another important achievement of Kant of the pre-critical period is his hypothesis about the natural origin of human races (Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Negroids), which later received full confirmation.

During the critical period that began in the 1970s, Kant primarily focused on epistemological issues - on the study of the possibilities and abilities of man's knowledge of the world around him, and also conducted serious research in the field of ethics and aesthetics. Criticism in this period is understood as the establishment of boundaries to which the abilities of the mind and other forms of knowledge extend. Kant was not satisfied with the solution of epistemological problems either in the philosophical empiricism of modern times or in rationalism. The first is unable to explain the necessary nature of the laws and principles cognized by man, the second neglects the role of experience in cognition.

Kant's theory of knowledge

Apriorism. Solving the problem of substantiating scientific, including philosophical knowledge, Kant came to the conclusion that although all our knowledge begins with experience, moreover, none of our knowledge precedes experience in time, it does not follow from this that it entirely comes from experience. “It is quite possible that even our experiential knowledge is made up of what we perceive through impressions, and of what our cognitive faculty ... gives from itself.” In this regard, he distinguishes a priori knowledge (independent of any experience, preceding any specific experience) and empirical, a posteriori knowledge, the source of which is experience entirely. Examples of the former are the provisions of mathematics and many of the provisions of natural science. For example, the position that "every change must have a reason." A striking example of an a priori concept, according to Kant, is the philosophical concept of substance, to which we come speculatively, gradually excluding from the concept of the body "everything that is empirical in it: color, hardness or softness, weight, impenetrability ...".

Analytical and synthetic judgments. Synthetic a priori. Kant was well aware of traditional logic, in which a judgment (a logical form expressed in a language by a declarative sentence) has always been considered the structural unit of thought. Each judgment has its own subject (subject of thought) and predicate (what is said in this judgment about its subject). In this case, the relation of the subject to the predicate can be twofold. In some cases, the content of the predicate is implied in the content of the subject; and the predicate of the judgment does not add to us any new knowledge about the subject, but only performs an explanatory function. Kant calls such judgments analytic, for example, the judgment that all bodies are extended. In other cases, the content of the predicate enriches the knowledge of the subject, and the predicate performs an expanding function in the judgment. Such judgments Kant calls synthetic, for example, the judgment that all bodies have gravity.

All empirical judgments are synthetic, but the opposite, says Kant, is not true. In his opinion, and this is the most important moment of Kant's philosophical teaching, there are synthetic a priori judgments in mathematics, natural science and metaphysics (ie, in philosophy and theology). And Kant formulates his main task in the "Critique of Pure Reason", the main philosophical work, as follows" - to answer the question, "how are a priori synthetic judgments possible?".

According to Kant, this is possible due to the fact that a priori (transcendental) forms of rational activity are present in our head. Namely, in mathematics, which is entirely a collection of synthetic a priori truths, there are a priori forms of space and time. “Geometry is based on the “pure” contemplation of space. Arithmetic creates the concepts of its numbers by successive additions of units in time; but especially pure mechanics can create its concepts of motion only through the representation of time. Here is how he argues for the synthetic nature of the elementary arithmetic truth that 7+5=12: “At first glance, it may seem that 7+5=12 is a purely analytic proposition following ... from the concept of the sum of seven and five. However, looking closer, we find that the concept of the sum of 7 and 5 contains only the combination of these two numbers into one, and from this it is not at all conceivable what the number that encompasses both terms is. The fact that 5 had to be added to 7, I, however, thought in terms of the sum = 7 + 5, but did not think that this sum is equal to twelve. Therefore, the given arithmetical proposition is always synthetic...”.

The use of four groups of philosophical categories (quality, quantity, relationship and modality) is associated with natural science: “... the mind does not draw its laws (a priori) from nature, but prescribes them to it ... This is how pure rational concepts appeared ... it is only they ... that can make up everything our knowledge of things from pure understanding. I called them, of course, the old name of the categories ... ". In metaphysics, the most important role is played by the ideas of the world (“cosmological idea”), the soul (“psychological idea”) and God (“theological idea”): “Metaphysics deals with pure concepts of the mind, which are never given in any possible experience ... under by ideas I understand necessary concepts, the subject of which ... cannot be given in any experience. With his doctrine of synthetic a priori truths, Kant actually denies the presence in our head of purely empirical, experimental knowledge that is not "clouded" by any rational processing, and thereby shows the inconsistency of the forms of empiricism that existed in his time.

The doctrine of the "thing-in-itself". Kant believed that only the world of "phenomena" (appearances) is accessible to man in cognition. In particular, nature consists of phenomena and only of them. However, phenomena hide incomprehensible, inaccessible to cognition, external to it (transcendent to it) “things-in-themselves”, examples of which, among others, are “the world as a whole”, “soul”, “God” (as the unconditional cause of all causal phenomena). By affirming the unknowability of "things in themselves," Kant limited knowledge to one degree or another.

Kant's doctrine of antinomies

What, according to Kant, prevents the mind from going beyond the world of phenomena and reaching the “thing-in-itself”? The answer to this question should be sought in the features of the mind, which are revealed in the famous Kantian doctrine of antinomies. Antinomies are judgments that contradict each other (“thesis” and “antithesis”), in each pair of contradictory judgments one is a negation of the other, and at the same time the mind is not able to make a choice in favor of one of them. First of all, Kant points to the following four antinomies, in which our mind is hopelessly entangled as soon as it tries to go beyond the world of phenomena: “1. Thesis: The world has a beginning (boundary) in time and space. Antithesis: The world in time and space is infinite. 2. Thesis: Everything in the world consists of a simple (indivisible). Antithesis: Nothing is simple, everything is complex. 3. Thesis: There are free causes in the world. Antithesis: There is no freedom, everything is nature (i.e. necessity). 4. Thesis: In the series of world causes there is a certain necessary being (i.e. God - ed.). Antithesis: There is nothing necessary in this series, but everything is accidental. The history of philosophy has a significant number of antinomies (paradoxes), but all of them were of a logical nature, arose as a result of logical errors committed by the mind. Kantian antinomies, on the other hand, are epistemological, not logical in nature - they, according to Kant, arise as a result of unreasonable claims of the mind to the knowledge of “things in themselves”, in particular, the world as such: “When we ... think of the phenomena of the sensually perceived world as things themselves on its own ... then suddenly a contradiction is revealed ... and the mind, therefore, sees itself in discord with itself.

Modern science provides striking examples of the emergence of antinomies in the theoretical natural sciences in the sense of Kant, to overcome which a complete restructuring of the conceptual foundation of the corresponding theories is required. Such is the antinomy of the ether hypothesis in the special theory of relativity, the gravitational and photometric paradoxes in the general theory of relativity, "Maxwell's demons", etc.

The concept of reason and reason in Kant's philosophy

The most important role in the philosophical teachings of Kant is played by the concepts of reason and reason, rational and rational thinking. He brings the distinction between these concepts, which to a certain extent took place in the past with Aristotle (the distinction between theoretical and practical reason), among the philosophers of the Renaissance (N. Cusa and J. Bruno), to their opposition as thinking, subject to certain rules, canons and dogmatized in this sense, and creative thinking, going beyond any canons. “Man finds in himself a faculty by which he is distinguished, and this is reason. Reason is pure self-activity above even reason ... [which] by its activity can only form such concepts that serve only to bring sensory representations under rules and thereby unite them in consciousness ... Reason, however, shows under the name of ideas such pure spontaneity that thanks to it, it goes far beyond everything that sensuality can give it, and performs its most important work by distinguishing the sensually perceived world from the intelligible, thereby showing the very mind its limits. A further step in the study of rational and rational thinking was made by G. Hegel, in whom the mind appears as a truly philosophical, dialectical thinking.

Ethics of Kant

Kant's doctrine of morality is set forth in the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), as well as in his work, published in 1797, Metaphysics of Morals, where the Kantian ethical concept appears in a more rigorous and complete form.

The meaning of Kant's philosophy is that Kant is looking for clear arguments to substantiate scientific knowledge, philosophy, and the construction of a rational human life. This task seems to be the most difficult in the development of ethical doctrine, since the sphere of morality, human behavior contains many manifestations of subjectivism. Nevertheless, in order to streamline the problem of consciousness, Kant makes a brilliant attempt to formulate a moral law that would have an objective character. He makes the problem of the rationality of human life the subject of a special analysis - and this is reflected in his ethical concept.

Essence and specificity of practical reason

Kant in his philosophical system distinguishes between the concepts of theoretical and practical reason. As shown earlier, theoretical reason operates in the realm of pure ideas and exclusively within the framework of strict necessity. By practical reason, the philosopher understands the area of ​​human behavior in everyday life, the world of his moral activity and actions. Here, practical reason can operate at the level of empirical experience, often going beyond strict necessity and enjoying freedom. As Kant points out, in the realm of practical reason, "we have expanded our knowledge beyond this sensible world, although the critique of pure reason has declared this claim invalid."

This becomes possible because man, according to Kant, belongs to both the sensually perceived (phenomenal) and the intelligible (noumenal) world. As a “phenomenon”, a person is subject to necessity, external causality, the laws of nature, social attitudes, but as a “thing-in-itself”, he can not obey such a rigid determination and act freely.

Showing the difference between pure, theoretical reason and practical reason, Kant insists on the primacy of practical reason over theoretical reason, since, in his opinion, knowledge has value only when it helps a person to acquire strong moral foundations. Thus, he shows that the human mind is capable not only of knowledge, but also of moral action, thus morality rises to the level of action.

Kant points out that in previous ethical theories, morality was derived from principles external to it: the will of God, the moral attitudes of society, various empirical conditions - this Kant calls “heteronomy of will”. The novelty of his approach lies in the fact that practical reason determines the will autonomously; "autonomy" of morality means the fundamental independence and intrinsic value of moral principles. He writes: "The autonomy of the will consists in the fact that the will itself prescribes the law to itself - this is the only principle of the moral law." That is, for Kant, a person is not only a morally acting being, but also a person responsible for his actions.

Ethical categories of Kant

Kant believes that moral concepts are not derived from experience, they are a priori and embedded in the human mind. In his ethical concept, he explores the most important and most complex categories of morality: good will, freedom, duty, conscience, happiness, and others.

The initial concept of Kant's ethics is an autonomous good will, which he calls an unconditional good, as well as a value that surpasses any price. Good will is a prerequisite, foundation, motive for the theoretical and practical choice of a person in the field of morality. This is the free choice of man, the source of human dignity, which separates him as a person from other beings of the material world. But such freedom is fraught with danger: the will of a person can be subordinated not only to reason, but also to feelings, therefore there can be no complete guarantee of the morality of actions. It is necessary to form morality in the process of education and self-education of a person, but since it is impossible to foresee everything in life, then, according to Kant, people can be instilled with an inclination and aspiration for goodness.

The philosopher calls the concept of freedom the key to explaining and understanding the autonomy of good will. But how is the freedom of a rational being possible in a world where necessity rules? Kant's concept of freedom is directly connected with the concept of duty. That is why, having first turned to theoretical reason and answered the question “What can I know?”, The philosopher moves on to practical reason and raises the question “What should I do?”. He comes to the conclusion that the free choice of a person is determined solely by the dictates of duty. "I must" for Kant means the same as "I am free." Man, as a being endowed with inner freedom, is a being capable of incurring obligations ... and can recognize a debt to himself. Therefore, only duty gives an action a moral character, only duty is the only moral motive.

The German philosopher explores in detail the concept of duty and considers various types of a person's duty: to himself and to other people. Among the main goals of a person, which at the same time represent his duty and are based on a priori principles, Kant singles out "one's own perfection and someone else's happiness." This is what the author of the Metaphysics of Morals insists on, since, for example, one’s own happiness can also be a goal, but by no means a person’s duty, because “duty is a coercion to a reluctantly accepted goal.” And happiness is what everyone inevitably wishes for himself. Achieving one's own happiness cannot be a duty, since this is an ideal not of the mind, but of the imagination, and the idea of ​​​​it is based not on a priori, but on empirical principles. Each person has many desires, but Kant asks himself: will their fulfillment lead to happiness? Another very difficult problem is the happiness of the other, because no one can force him to be happy and imagine what the other person understands by this. Despite all the complexity and delicacy of the approach to happiness as the most important ethical category, Kant nevertheless examines it in detail and, ultimately, connects happiness with the virtues of man.

But, referring to the question of man's own perfection, Kant is categorical - this is the goal and at the same time the duty of everyone. The perfection of man does not consist in what he has received as a gift from nature, but in what can be the result of his efforts and actions in accordance with reason. In this regard, the philosopher highlights two points: the desire for the physical perfection of man as a natural being and "an increase in one's moral perfection in a purely moral sense." Of course, a person must take care to get out of the primitiveness of his nature, out of the state of animality. These goals include: - self-preservation; - procreation, when passion is in unity with moral love, - maintenance of one's physical condition.

But for Kant, the absolute priority is moral perfection, "the culture of morality in us." He writes: “The greatest moral perfection of a person is this: to fulfill one’s duty, and, moreover, for reasons of duty (so that the law is not only a rule, but also a motive for actions).” This extremely important position of Kant's ethics requires from a person not only a moral act, but a moral motive for action, because a person can do a “good deed”, for example, for reasons of his own benefit, or based on immoral grounds. Speaking about a person's duty to himself as a moral being, Kant contrasts it with the vices of lies, stinginess, and servility. At the same time, he formulates the main principle of a person’s relationship to himself: know yourself not by your physical perfection, but by moral perfection, because moral self-knowledge, penetrating into the depths, “abysses” of the heart, is the beginning of all human wisdom.

As for the duties of a person to other people, Kant also singles out mutual obligations: love, friendship, and those that contribute to the happiness of others, but do not require reciprocity - the duty of charity, gratitude, participation, respect. At the same time, the philosopher emphasizes that, ultimately, the duty to other people is the duty of a person to himself, the fulfillment of which helps to move towards his own perfection. Such a gradual, progressive movement towards perfection is the most perfect duty of a person to himself, and, as a commandment, Kant repeats: "Be perfect!"

The categorical imperative as a moral law

On the basis of a critical analysis of human cognition and behavior, Kant tries to find the law of morality subordinated to reason. He believes that in human life, in any case, the mind sets goals, and here it is not subject to such contradictions as in the field of theory. At the same time, in the sphere of practical reason, ordinary reason can also come to “correctness and thoroughness”: in order to be honest, kind, wise and virtuous, “we do not need any science and philosophy.” If the mind and feelings are in harmony, then there is no conflict between them, otherwise a person should give preference to the mind. According to Kant, to act morally means to act reasonably, albeit sometimes under the compulsion of the will. Therefore, the principles of human behavior are never determined empirically, but are always based on the activity of the mind, exist a priori and do not depend on experimental data.

The creation of reasonable human relations is possible on the basis of duties, the duty of a person to fulfill the moral law, which is valid for every individual under any circumstances. Along with general practical principles, as Kant points out, there are always many particular rules, so he divides practical principles into "maxims" and "imperatives".

Maxims are personal, subjective principles of behavior, that is, those considerations or motives that induce a person to act, and relate to specific individuals. For example, the maxim “avenge every insult inflicted” can be implemented in different ways depending on a variety of objective and subjective conditions. Or the duty of a person to take care of his own health may involve various ways of achieving this goal.

Imperative is an objective principle of behavior, a moral law that is significant for everyone. Kant identifies two types of imperatives: hypothetical and categorical. He writes: “If an act is good for something else as a means, then we are dealing with a hypothetical imperative; if it is presented as good in itself…then the imperative is categorical.”

The hypothetical imperative defines the will subject to the presence of certain goals: for example, "if you want to succeed, take the trouble to learn", or "if you want to become a champion, pump up your muscles", "if you want a carefree old age, learn to save." These imperatives have objective force for all those who are interested in precisely these purposes, exceptions are possible in their application.

Categorical imperative- this is an objective, universal, unconditional, necessary moral law, and to fulfill it is the duty of every person without exception. This law is the same for everyone, but Kant gives it in his works in several formulations. One of them says that although maxims are subjective principles of behavior, they, too, must always have a universal meaning. In this case, the categorical imperative sounds like this: "act only according to such a maxim, guided by which, at the same time, you can wish it to become a universal law." Another formulation is connected with Kant's idea of ​​the human person as an absolute and unconditional value above all else: “act in such a way that you always treat humanity, both in your own person and in the person of everyone else, as well as an end and never treat it only as a means."

To act in accordance with these laws is the duty of man and the guarantee of the morality of his actions. But besides this objective principle, Kant also explores another criterion of morality that exists in every person - this is conscience. Conscience is something that cannot be acquired, it is “the original intellectual and moral inclinations”, this is an inevitable fact. It is sometimes said that a person has no conscience, but this does not mean its absence, but indicates a tendency to "not pay attention to its judgments." Kant characterizes conscience as an "internal judge", "consciousness of an internal judgment in a person". The mechanism of conscience eliminates the duality of a person who belongs to both the phenomenal and the intelligible world. Kant argues that it is impossible to understand everything correctly, but to act unrighteously; compromises are impossible with conscience, sooner or later you will have to answer to it for your actions.

With all the severity and unambiguity of the formulation of the moral law, Kant certainly understands the difficulties of its implementation. For example, the duty of a person not to lie or not to steal in a real situation can be difficult to fulfill: for example, lying out of philanthropy or stealing a piece of bread by a person dying of hunger. All this is possible in life, and Kant considers these contradictions in his works, introducing peculiar additions, which he calls "casuistic questions." He comes to the conclusion that in such situations one should never pass off one's act as moral, and always be precise in definitions - morality is morality, law is law. Since morality is unconditional, it is universal legislation, there are no, and cannot be, cases of morally justified deviation from it.

Despite such a rational approach to the problem of morality, the philosopher admits that man remains the greatest mystery of the universe, and in the conclusion of the Critique of Practical Reason he writes: “Two things always fill the soul with new and stronger surprise and awe, the more often and longer we think about them - this is the starry sky above me and the moral law in me.

In the doctrine of morality, Kant:

• created a deep, interesting ethical theory based on scientific generalization and respect for moral consciousness
• substantiated the thesis of the autonomy of morality, which is valuable in itself and is a law, and is not derived from principles external to it
• proposed a theoretical basis for organizing the rational life of a person, formulating a moral law that is mandatory for every rational being
• substantiated in a new way the principle of self-worth of each person, which under no circumstances can be a means to achieve any goals whatsoever
• emphasized the importance of the relationship between morality and scientific knowledge based on the unity of practical and theoretical reason

Socio-political views

The Great French Revolution and the ideas of the English and French Enlightenment had a huge impact on Kant's socio-political views. Following Rousseau, Kant develops the idea of ​​popular sovereignty, which, in his opinion, is in fact unrealistic and can threaten the state with the danger of destruction. Therefore, the will of the people must remain subordinate to the existing government, and changes in the state structure "can be made only by the sovereign itself through reform, and not by the people through revolution." At the same time, Kant is a resolute opponent of oppression and tyranny; he believes that the despot must be overthrown, but only by legal means. For example, public opinion may refuse to support a tyrant and, being in moral isolation, he will be forced to comply with laws or reform them in favor of the people.

Kant's views on socio-historical progress are determined by the fact that a necessary condition for its achievement is an understanding of the contradictory nature of the historical process itself. The essence of this contradiction lies in the fact that people, on the one hand, tend to live in society, and on the other hand, due to their not very perfect nature and ill will, they tend to oppose each other, threatening society with disintegration. According to Kant, without this antagonism and the suffering and disaster associated with it, no development would be possible. But the movement in this direction, although very slow and gradual, will still continue as the morals of man improve.

Certainly, Kant's ideas about war and peace are relevant. He devotes to this problem the treatise “Towards Eternal Peace” (1795), the very title of which contains an ambiguity: either the cessation of wars by an international treaty, or eternal peace “in the giant cemetery of mankind” after a war of extermination. Kant believes that humanity is always moving towards peace through the disasters of wars, and in order to prevent this from happening, he considers it extremely important and responsible to establish universal peace on earth and justifies the inevitability of this. The philosopher puts forward the idea of ​​such an international agreement, in which, for example: - not a single peace treaty can contain the hidden possibility of a new war; - standing armies should eventually disappear; - no state has the right to forcibly interfere in the political structure and rule of another state. In many ways, these ideas should be implemented by politicians, to whom Kant also gives advice. And here the philosopher tries to combine politics with morality: one can either adapt morality to the interests of politics (“political moralist”), or subordinate politics to morality (“moral politician”). Of course, the ideal is the "moral politician" "who establishes the principles of state wisdom that are compatible with morality, but not the political moralist who forges a morality aimed at the benefit of the statesman."

In his socio-political views, Kant acts as a cautious optimist, believing that society, through the moral improvement of people, will inevitably move towards its ideal state - a world without wars and upheavals.

All of Kant's work is devoted to the justification of how each person, society, the world can become better, more reasonable and more humane. The idea of ​​morality permeates all types of human spiritual activity: science, philosophy, art, religion. The greatest optimism exudes Kant's confidence that the world can become the better, the more reasonable and moral every person on earth is, regardless of his occupation.

Aesthetics of Kant

In 1790, Kant's third great book, Critique of Judgment, was published, in the first part of which Kant considers the following aesthetic problems and categories: beautiful; sublime; aesthetic perception; ideal of beauty, artistic creativity; aesthetic idea; relationship between the aesthetic and the moral. Kant comes to aesthetics, trying to resolve the contradiction in his philosophical teaching between the world of nature and the world of freedom: “there must be a basis for the unity of the supersensible, underlying nature, with what practically contains the concept of freedom.” Thanks to a new approach, Kant created an aesthetic teaching, which became one of the most significant phenomena in the history of aesthetics.

The main problem of aesthetics is the question of what is beautiful (beauty is usually understood as the highest form of beauty). Philosophers before Kant defined the beautiful as a property of the object of perception, Kant comes to the definition of this category through a critical analysis of the ability to perceive beauty, or the ability to judge taste. “Taste is the ability to judge beauty.” “In order to determine whether something is beautiful or not, we relate the representation not to the object of knowledge through the understanding for the sake of knowledge, but to the subject and his feeling of pleasure or displeasure.” Kant emphasizes the sensual, subjective and personal nature of the evaluation of the beautiful, but the main task of his criticism is to discover a universal, that is, a priori criterion for such an evaluation.

Kant distinguishes the following distinctive features of the judgment of taste:

• The judgment of taste is the ability to judge an object “on the basis of pleasure or displeasure, free from all interest. The object of such pleasure is called beautiful. Kant contrasts the judgment of taste with the pleasure of the pleasant and the pleasure of the good. Pleasure from the pleasant is only a sensation and depends on the object that causes this feeling. Each person has his own pleasure (for example, color, smell, sounds, taste). “In relation to the pleasant, the fundamental principle is valid: everyone has his own taste.” The pleasure from the good is significant for everyone, because it depends on the concept of the moral value of the subject. Both types of pleasure are associated with the idea of ​​the existence of the object that caused them. The beautiful is pleasing in itself, it is a disinterested, contemplative pleasure that has its basis in the state of the soul. For the judgment of taste, it is completely indifferent whether an object is useful, valuable or pleasant, the question is only whether it is beautiful. Every interest affects our judgment and does not allow it to be free (or pure judgment of taste).
• If pleasure is free from all personal interest, then it claims to be valid for everyone. In this case, it cannot be said that everyone has his own particular taste, “not pleasure, but precisely the universal validity of this pleasure ... a priori appears in the judgment of taste as a general rule.” But the foundation of the universality of the judgment of taste is not the concept. “If objects are judged only by concepts, any idea of ​​beauty is lost. Therefore, there can be no rule by which everyone can be forced to recognize something as beautiful. What is the a priori basis for the necessity and universality of pleasure from the beautiful? Kant believes that this is harmony in the free play of spiritual forces: imagination and reason.
• Harmony in the free play of imagination and reason, which evokes a feeling of pleasure from the beautiful, corresponds to the form of the expediency of the object (expediency is the harmonious connection of parts and the whole). The content and material of the subject are concomitant, not determining factors. Therefore, a pure judgment of taste can be evoked in us, for example, by flowers or non-objective patterns (if no extraneous interest is mixed in with them). In painting, for example, from this point of view, the main role, according to Kant, is played by drawing, and in music, composition.

This point of view makes sense only within the framework of the analysis of the judgment of taste, through which Kant seeks to reveal the distinctive features of the judgment of taste. In the doctrine of the sublime, the ideal of beauty, art, the philosopher shows the connection between the judgment of taste and other aspects of a person's relationship to the world.

Judgments about the ideal of beauty cannot be pure judgments of taste. One cannot imagine the ideal of beautiful flowers, beautiful furnishings, beautiful scenery. Only that which has the purpose of its existence in itself, namely, man can be the ideal of beauty. But such an ideal is always connected with moral ideas.

Kant formulated the antinomy of taste “Tastes are not disputed, and tastes are disputed” and showed how it is resolved. "Everyone has his own taste" - such an argument is often defended from reproach by people devoid of taste. On the one hand, the judgment of taste is not based on concepts, "taste claims only autonomy", so it cannot be argued about. But, on the other hand, the judgment of taste has a universal basis, so one can argue about it. The antinomy of taste would be insoluble if by "beautiful" in the first thesis one understood "pleasant" and in the second - "good". But both of these points of view on the beautiful were rejected by Kant. In his teaching, the judgment of taste is a dialectical unity of the subjective and the objective, the individual and the universal, the autonomous and the generally valid, the sensuous and the supersensible. Thanks to this understanding, both positions of the antinomy of taste can be considered true.

Unlike the beautiful, an object of nature associated with the form, the sublime deals with the formless, which goes beyond the limits of measure. This phenomenon of nature causes displeasure. Therefore, the basis of pleasure from the sublime is not nature, but reason, which expands the imagination to the consciousness of the superiority of man over nature. The phenomena of nature (thunder, lightning, storm, mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, etc.) or social life (for example, war) are called sublime not in themselves, but “because they increase spiritual strength beyond the ordinary and allow you to discover in yourself a completely different kind of ability to resist, which gives us the courage to measure our strength against the seeming omnipotence of nature.

Kant defines art through comparison with nature, science and craft. "Beauty in nature is a beautiful thing, and beauty in art is a beautiful representation of a thing." Art differs from nature in that it is a work of man. But art is art if it appears to us as nature. Art differs from science in the same way that skill differs from knowledge. Unlike craft, it is a free activity that is enjoyable in itself, and not for the sake of the result. Kant divides the arts into pleasant and graceful. The aim of the first is the pleasant, the aim of the second is the beautiful. The measure of pleasure in the first case is only the sensations, in the second - the judgment of taste.

Kant pays great attention to the problem of artistic creativity. For this he uses the term "genius". In Kant's philosophy, this term has a specific meaning. This is the name of the special innate talent of a person, thanks to which he can create works of art. Since Kant considers art to be an important means of penetrating the world of the supersensible, he defends the freedom of artistic creation. Through the genius, "nature gives the rule to art", and not the world to the genius.

1. The main property of a genius should be originality. 2. But nonsense can also be original. The works of genius, not being imitations, should themselves be models, a rule of evaluation. 3. The creative activity of a genius cannot be explained. 4. Nature prescribes a rule through a genius to art, and not to science, "in which well-known rules should come first and determine the mode of action in it" (the field of science in Kant's philosophy is limited to the field of the world of phenomena).

The main ability of a genius is such a ratio of imagination and reason, which makes it possible to create aesthetic ideas. Under the aesthetic idea, Kant understands “that representation of the imagination, which gives rise to a lot of thinking, and, however, no definite thought, i.e. no concept can be adequate to it and, consequently, no language can fully reach it and make it understandable. In the doctrine of art, Kant understands form as a means of expressing an aesthetic idea. Therefore, in his classification of art, he puts in the first place not non-objective art, but poetry, which "aesthetically rises to ideas."

In his aesthetics, Kant shows how the beautiful differs from the moral, and then reveals the nature of the connection between these aspects of a person’s spiritual life: “The beautiful is a symbol of morality.” That's the only reason why everyone likes beauty. When meeting with the beautiful, the soul feels a certain ennoblement and elevation above the susceptibility to sensory impressions. Since “taste is in essence the ability to judge the sensual embodiment of moral ideas,” then the development of moral ideas and the culture of moral feeling serve the education of taste.

Aesthetics plays an important role in the philosophy of Kant, who is looking for an answer to the most important philosophical question - "what one must be in order to be a person." All Kant's aesthetic ideas are so deep and interesting that they are the subject of careful study at the present time. They do not lose their relevance as society develops. Moreover, their relevance is increasing, revealing themselves in new interesting and important aspects for us.

Kant's philosophy undoubtedly had a beneficial effect on the subsequent development of philosophy, primarily German classical philosophy. The connection between philosophy and modern science discovered by Kant, the desire to understand the forms and methods of theoretical thinking within the framework of logic and the theory of knowledge, to explore the cognitive role of philosophical categories, and to reveal the dialectical inconsistency of reason turned out to be extremely fruitful. His undoubted merit is a high assessment of moral duty, a view of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy that removes the contradiction between theoretical and practical reason, an indication of ways to get rid of wars as a means of resolving conflicts between states.

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 philosophical teaching throughout the world.

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 his maternal relatives 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 students 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 by 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, 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 relationships would 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 with 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.

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 give lectures, and at the dinner table the scientist received 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. The great philosopher died on 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;

1. Founder German classical idealism counts Immanuel Kant(1724 - 1804) - German (Prussian) philosopher, professor at the University of Koenigsber.

All the work of I. Kant can be divided into two large periods:

Subcritical (until the beginning of the 70s of the XVIII century);

Critical (early 70s of the XVIII century and until 1804).

During precritical period I. Kant's philosophical interest was directed to the problems of natural science and nature.

In a later, critical period, Kant's interest shifted to questions of the activity of the mind, cognition, the mechanism of cognition, the boundaries of cognition, logic, ethics, and social philosophy. Your name critical period received in connection with the name of three fundamental philosophical works Kant:

"Critique of Pure Reason";

"Critique of Practical Reason";

"Criticism of Judgment".

2. The most important problems of Kant's philosophical research precritical period were problems of life, nature, natural sciences. Kant's innovation in the study of these problems lies in the fact that he was one of the first philosophers who, considering these problems, paid great attention to development problem.

Philosophical conclusions of Kant were revolutionary for his era:

The solar system arose from a large initial cloud of particles of matter rarefied in space as a result of

the rotation of this cloud, which became possible due to the movement and interaction (attraction, repulsion, collision) of its constituent particles.

Nature has its history in time (beginning and end), and is not eternal and unchanging;

Nature is in constant change and development;

Movement and rest are relative;

All life on earth, including humans, is the result of natural biological evolution.

At the same time, Kant's ideas bear the imprint of the worldview of that time:

Mechanical laws are not originally embedded in matter, but have their own external cause;

This external cause (first principle) is God. Despite this, Kant's contemporaries believed that his discoveries (especially about the emergence of the solar system and the biological evolution of man) were commensurate in their significance with the discovery of Copernicus (the rotation of the Earth around the Sun).

3. At the heart of Kant's philosophical research critical period(the beginning of the 70s of the XVIII century and until 1804) lies problem of knowledge.

AT his book "Critique of Pure Reason" Kant defends the idea agnosticism- the impossibility of knowing the surrounding reality.

Most philosophers before Kant saw the object of cognitive activity as the main reason for the difficulties of cognition - being, the surrounding world, which contains many secrets unsolved for thousands of years. Kant puts forward the hypothesis that cause difficulty in learning is not the surrounding reality - an object, but subject of cognitive activity man, or rather his mind.

The cognitive capabilities (abilities) of the human mind are limited(that is, the mind cannot do everything). As soon as the human mind with its arsenal of cognitive means tries to go beyond its own framework (possibility) of cognition, it encounters insoluble contradictions. These irresolvable contradictions, of which Kant discovered four, Kant called antinomies.

Second antinomy - SIMPLE AND COMPLEX
There are only simple elements and what consists of simple ones. .	There is nothing simple in the world.
Third antinomy - FREEDOM AND CAUSATION
There is not only causality according to the laws of nature, but also freedom.	Freedom does not exist. Everything in the world takes place due to strict causality according to the laws of nature.
The fourth antinomy - THE PRESENCE OF GOD
There is God - an unconditionally necessary being, the cause of all that exists.	There is no god. There is no absolutely necessary being - the cause of everything that exists.

With the help of reason, one can logically prove both opposite positions of antinomies at the same time - reason comes to a standstill. The presence of antinomies, according to Kant, is proof of the existence of the limits of the cognitive abilities of the mind.

Also in the Critique of Pure Reason, I. Kant classifies knowledge itself as the result of cognitive activity and highlights three concepts that characterize knowledge:

a posteriori knowledge;

A priori knowledge;

"thing in itself".

A posteriori knowledge- the knowledge that a person receives as a result of experience. This knowledge can only be conjectural, but not reliable, since every statement taken from this type of knowledge must be verified in practice, and such knowledge is not always true. For example, a person knows from experience that all metals melt, but theoretically there may be metals that are not subject to melting; or "all swans are white", but sometimes black ones can also be found in nature, therefore, experimental (empirical, a posteriori) knowledge can misfire, does not have complete reliability and cannot claim to be universal.

A priori knowledge- experimental, that is, that which exists in the mind from the very beginning and does not require any experimental evidence. For example: "All bodies are extended", "Human life proceeds in time", "All bodies have mass". Any of these provisions is obvious and absolutely reliable both with and without experimental verification. It is impossible, for example, to meet a body that does not have dimensions or without mass, the life of a living person, flowing outside of time. Only a priori (experimental) knowledge is absolutely reliable and reliable, possesses the qualities of universality and necessity.

It should be noted: Kant's theory of a priori (originally true) knowledge was completely logical in the era of Kant, however, discovered by A. Einstein in the middle of the twentieth century. the theory of relativity called it into question.

"Thing in Itself"- one of the central concepts of the whole philosophy of Kant. "Thing in itself" is the inner essence of a thing, which will never be known by the mind.

4. Kant singles out scheme of the cognitive process, according to which:

The outside world initially influences ("affecting") on the human senses;

The human senses take affected images of the outside world in the form of sensations;

The human consciousness brings the scattered images and sensations received by the senses into a system, as a result of which a holistic picture of the surrounding world arises in the human mind;

A holistic picture of the surrounding world, arising in the mind on the basis of sensations, is just the image of the outside world visible to the mind and feelings, which has nothing to do with the real world;

real world, whose images are perceived by the mind and feelings, is "thing in itself"- a substance that absolutely cannot be understood by the mind;

the human mind can only to know the images a huge variety of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world - "things in themselves", but not their inner being.

Thus, at In cognition, the mind encounters two impenetrable boundaries:

Own (internal for the mind) boundaries, beyond which

there are insoluble contradictions - antinomies;

External boundaries - the inner essence of things in themselves.

5. The very human consciousness (pure mind), which receives signals - images from unknowable "things in themselves" - the surrounding world, also, according to Kant, has its own structure, which includes:

Forms of sensuality;

Forms of reason;

Forms of the mind.

Sensuality- the first level of consciousness. Forms of Sensuality- space and time. Thanks to sensibility, consciousness initially systematizes sensations, placing them in space and time.

Reason- the next level of consciousness. Forms of reason -categories- extremely general concepts, with the help of which further comprehension and systematization of the initial sensations located in the "coordinate system" of space and time takes place. (Examples of categories are quantity, quality, possibility, impossibility, necessity, etc.)

Intelligence- the highest level of consciousness. Forms of the mind are final higher ideas, for example: the idea of ​​God; the idea of ​​the soul; the idea of ​​the essence of the world, etc.

Philosophy, according to Kant, is the science of given (higher) ideas. 6. Kant's great service to philosophy is that he put forward the doctrine of categories(translated from Greek - statements) - extremely general concepts with which you can describe and to which you can reduce everything that exists. (That is, there are no such things or phenomena of the surrounding world that would not have the features characterized by these categories.) Kant singles out twelve such categories and divides them into four classes, three in each.

Data classes are:

Quantity;

Quality;

Attitude;

Modality.

(That is, everything in the world has quantity, quality, relationships, modality.)

quantities - unity, plurality, wholeness;

Qualities - reality, negation, limitation;

Relations - substantiality (inherence) and accident (independence); cause and investigation; interaction;

Modality - possibility and impossibility, existence and non-existence, necessity and chance.

the first two categories of each of the four classes are opposite characteristics of the properties of the class, the third ones are their synthesis. For example, the extreme opposite characteristics of quantity are unity and plurality, their synthesis is wholeness; qualities - reality and negation (unreality), their synthesis - limitation, etc.

According to Kant, with the help of categories - the most general characteristics of everything that exists - the mind carries out its activity: it arranges the chaos of initial sensations on the "shelves of the mind", which makes orderly mental activity possible.

7. Along with "pure reason" - consciousness, carrying out mental activity and cognition, Kant singles out "practical reason" by which he understands morality and also criticizes it in his other key work, The Critique of Practical Reason.

Main Questions "Critiques of Practical Reason":

What should be the moral?

What is the moral (moral) behavior of a person? Reflecting on these questions, Kant comes to the following

conclusions:

pure morality- a virtuous social consciousness recognized by all, which an individual perceives as his own;

Between pure morality and real life (actions, motives, interests of people) there is a strong contradiction;

Morality, human behavior must be independent of any external conditions and must obey only the moral law.

I. Kant formulated as follows moral Law, which has a supreme and unconditional character, and called it categorical imperative:"Act in such a way that the maxim of your action may be the principle of universal legislation."

Currently, the moral law (categorical imperative), formulated by Kant, is understood as follows:

A person must act in such a way that his actions are a model for all;

A person should treat another person (like him - a thinking being and a unique personality) only as an end, and not as a means.

8. In his third book of the critical period - "Criticism of Judgment"- Kant puts forward idea of ​​universal expediency:

expediency in aesthetics (a person is endowed with abilities that he must use as successfully as possible in various spheres of life and culture);

Expediency in nature (everything in nature has its own meaning - in the organization of living nature, the organization of inanimate nature, the structure of organisms, reproduction, development);

The expediency of the spirit (the presence of God).

9. Socio-political views I. Kant:

The philosopher believed that man is endowed with an inherently evil nature;

I saw the salvation of a person in moral education and strict adherence to the moral law (categorical imperative);

He was a supporter of the spread of democracy and the legal order - firstly, in each individual society; secondly, in relations between states and peoples;

He condemned wars as the most serious delusion and crime of mankind;

He believed that in the future a "higher world" would inevitably come - wars would either be prohibited by law or become economically unprofitable.

10. The historical significance of Kant's philosophy in what they were:

An explanation based on science (Newtonian mechanics) of the emergence of the solar system (from a rotating nebula of elements rarefied in space) is given;

An idea was put forward about the presence of limits of the cognitive ability of the human mind (antinomies, "things in themselves");

Twelve categories are deduced - extremely general concepts that form the framework of thinking;

The idea of ​​democracy and legal order has been put forward both in each individual society and in international relations;

Wars are condemned, "eternal peace" is predicted in the future, based on the economic unprofitability of wars and their legal prohibition.

Read the biography of the philosopher: briefly about life, basic ideas, teachings, philosophy
IMMANUEL KANT
(1724-1804)

German philosopher, founder of German classical philosophy. In 1747-1755, he developed a cosmogonic hypothesis of the origin of the solar system from the original nebula ("General Natural History and Theory of the Sky", 1755). Founder of "critical philosophy" ("Critique of Pure Reason", 1781; "Critique of Practical Reason", 1788; "Critique of Judgment", 1790). The central principle of Kant's ethics, based on the concept of duty, is the categorical imperative. Kant's doctrine of antinomies played an important role in the development of dialectics.

At five o'clock in the morning on April 22, 1724, a son was born in the family of the Konigsberg saddler John Georg Kant. According to the old Prussian calendar, it was St. Emmanuel's day, and the boy was given a biblical name, meaning "God is with us." Kant believed that his ancestors were from Scotland. But the philosopher was wrong: his great-grandfather Richard Kant was of Baltic blood. The mother of the future philosopher Anna Regina is the daughter of a saddler, originally from Nuremberg.

The boy grew up on the outskirts of the city among small handicraft and merchant people, in an atmosphere of work, honesty, puritanical rigor. In the family, he was the fourth child. In total, Anna Regina gave birth to nine children. Of these, five survived. Immanuel Kant had three sisters and a younger brother, Johann Heinrich.

On the advice of pastor Franz Albert Schulz, who among his parishioners visited Master Kant's family, eight-year-old Immanuel was sent to the Friedrich College, a state gymnasium, of which Schultz himself was appointed director. Here the future philosopher spent eight years. He studied at the Latin department. The main subjects were Latin and theology. Parents wanted their offspring to become a pastor, but the boy, carried away by the talented lessons of the Latin teacher Heidenreich, dreamed of devoting himself to literature. The desire to become a priest was beaten off by the monastic order that reigned in the "collegium of Friedrich". The school was pietistic, morals were strict. Poor health interfered with Immanuel's studies, but quick wits, a good memory, and diligence helped out. For a number of years he was the first student, he graduated from school second.

In the autumn of 1740, sixteen-year-old Immanuel Kant entered the university. During his studies at the university, he was greatly influenced by Professor Martin Knutzen. A pietist and Wolfian, Knutzen showed great interest in the progress of English natural science. From him Kant first learned about Newton's discoveries. In the fourth year of his university studies, Kant began to write an independent essay on physics. Work progressed slowly. It was not only the lack of skills and lack of knowledge that affected, but also the need in which Studiozus Kant lived. The mother was no longer alive (she died relatively young, when Immanuel was thirteen years old), the father could barely make ends meet. Immanuel interrupted by lessons. Wealthy classmates fed them; in difficult times, they had to borrow clothes and shoes for a while. They say that he consoled himself with aphorisms "I strive to subordinate things to myself, and not myself to things", "Do not give in to trouble, but stand up to it boldly."

Sometimes he was helped by Pastor Schultz, more often by a maternal relative, a successful shoemaker. There is evidence that it was Uncle Richter who undertook a significant part of the costs of publishing Kant's firstborn - the work "Thoughts on the true assessment of living forces." Kant wrote it for three years, and printed it for four years. The last sheets left the printing house only in 1749.

Kant studied at the university for almost seven years. In 1747, without defending his master's thesis, he left his native city and tried himself as a home teacher. Immanuel went through a good school of everyday experience, got accustomed to people, got acquainted with the customs in various strata of society. Returning to Königsberg, Kant brought with him a voluminous manuscript on astronomy, originally entitled "Cosmogony, or an Attempt to Explain the Origin of the Universe, the Formation of the Celestial Bodies, and the Causes of Their Motion by the General Laws of the Motion of Matter in Accordance with Newton's Theory." He came to the correct conclusion that the rotation of the Earth is slowing down, which is caused by tidal friction of the waters of the oceans.

At the end of the summer of 1754, Kant published the article "The question of whether the Earth is aging from a physical point of view." The process of aging of the Earth causes no doubts in Kant. Everything that exists arises, improves, then goes towards death. The earth is no exception. These works preceded the cosmogonic treatise. Its final title was "The General Natural History and Theory of the Sky, or An Attempt to Interpret the Structure and Mechanical Origin of the Whole Universe from Newton's Principles".

The treatise was published anonymously in the spring of 1755 with a dedication to King Frederick II. The book was not lucky, its publisher went bankrupt, the warehouse was sealed, and the circulation did not keep up with the spring fair. And yet the book sold out, the author's anonymity was revealed, and an approving review appeared in one of the Hamburg periodicals.

In the autumn of 1755, Kant received the title of Privatdozent, that is, a freelance teacher, whose work was paid by the students themselves. There were not enough audiences, so many taught at home. Kant lived at that time with Professor Kipke. For the first lecture, there were more listeners than the hall could accommodate, students stood on the stairs and in the hallway. Kant was at a loss, for the first hour he spoke completely incomprehensibly, and only after a break did he regain his composure. Thus began his 41-year teaching career.

During his first university winter, he read logic, metaphysics, natural science, and mathematics. Then physical geography, ethics and mechanics were added to them. In his master's years, Kant had to teach 4-6 subjects at the same time. In the second half of the 1750s, he wrote almost nothing; teaching absorbed all the time. But a comfortable existence was provided. Privatdozent hired a servant - retired soldier Martin Lampe.

Kant's special pride was the course of physical geography. Kant was one of the first to teach geography as an independent discipline. Without leaving his office, Kant traveled around the world, crossed the seas, overcame deserts. "I drew from all sources, found a lot of all kinds of information, looked through the most thorough descriptions of individual countries." Kant created an impressive for those times, a generalized description of the earth's surface, flora and fauna, the kingdom of minerals and the life of the peoples inhabiting the four continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, America. Kant discovered the mechanism of formation of trade winds and monsoons. It was Kant's geographical works that were taken into account in the first place when he was elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, he developed an interest in philosophy. Kant's first philosophical work was his dissertation, "A New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Cognition," which explores the principle of sufficient reason established by Leibniz. In general, he defends the Leibnizian-Wolfian point of view. Although Kant has already begun to depart from it in some essential details, he is looking for a compromise, this time between the metaphysics of Leibniz-Wolf and Newton's physics.

Soon the Seven Years' War began. The city was occupied by Russian troops for almost five years, the inhabitants, including Kant, swore allegiance to the Russian crown in writing, and only Peter III in 1762 officially freed them from Russian citizenship. A. T. Bolotov, later a well-known memoirist and agronomist, supervised science at the University of Königsberg. However, he did not appreciate Kant, which, perhaps, was the reason for such a slow promotion of the latter in the service.

1762 was a turning point in the life of the thinker. It is generally accepted that acquaintance with the novel "Emile" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau played the most important role in Kant's new searches. The Frenchman's paradoxes helped him to look into the recesses of the human soul. Kant owed the books of Rousseau, first of all, the liberation from a number of prejudices of the armchair scientist, a kind of democratization of thinking. "... I despised the mob, who knew nothing. Rousseau corrected me. The indicated blinding superiority disappears, I learn to respect people" It was not just a change of views, it was a moral renewal, a revolution in life attitudes.

Kant had to work hard, but he also knew how to relax. After classes Master Kant willingly spent time with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, played billiards, and played cards in the evening. Sometimes he returned home after midnight, and once, by his own admission, he was so drunk that he could not independently find a passage to Magistersky Lane, where he happened to live in the 1760s. In any case, he had to get up early in the morning, he lectured. In addition, poor health made me think about a stricter regime.

In addition to the physical weakness that tormented him from early childhood, over the years was added a kind of mental illness, which Kant called hypochondria. The philosopher described the symptoms of this disease in one of his works: a hypochondriac is enveloped in a kind of "melancholic fog, as a result of which it seems to him that he is overcome by all the diseases that he has heard anything about. Therefore, he most willingly talks about his ill health, greedily pounces on medical books and everywhere finds symptoms of his illness. Society has a beneficial effect on the hypochondriac, here a good mood and a good appetite come to him. Perhaps that is why Kant never dined alone and generally liked to be in public.

He was willingly invited to visit, and he never shied away from invitations. An intelligent and lively conversationalist, Kant was the soul of society. In any company, he kept himself on an equal footing, easily, naturally, resourcefully. The philosopher valued friendship (put it above love, believing that it includes love, but also requires respect).

Kant's close friend was Joseph Green, an English merchant who permanently lived in Konigsberg. Green taught punctuality to his learned friend, who in his youth was not yet as pedantic as in his old age.

Kant remained a bachelor. Psychoanalysts explain Kant's celibacy as a cult of the mother, which slowed down other female attachments. The philosopher himself explained it differently: "When I could need a woman, I was not able to feed her, and when I was able to feed her, I could no longer need her." And if we compare this confession with another one “A man cannot enjoy life without a woman, and a woman cannot satisfy her needs apart from a man,” it becomes clear that celibacy was forced and did not bring joy in adulthood. A certain Louise Rebecca Fritz, in her declining years, assured that the philosopher Kant was once in love with her. According to biographers, this was in the 1760s. Without naming names, Borovsky, in whose eyes a significant part of Kant's life passed, claims that his teacher loved twice and intended to marry twice.

Kant was short (157 centimeters) and frail in build. The art of a tailor and hairdresser helped him to hide the flaws in his appearance. Kant treated fashion condescendingly, called it a matter of vanity, but said "It is better to be a fool in fashion than a fool out of fashion." In the memory of his contemporaries, Kant was preserved not only as a "little master", but also as a "gallant master".

In 1764, Kant was forty years old. He was already famous, appreciated and respected. His lectures were a success, the audience was always full, and he entrusted some of the courses to his students. Books sold well, and "Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime" brought him fame as a fashionable author.

But he still remained a privatdozent who did not receive a penny from the university. Master Kant even had to sell his books. In February 1766, the philosopher, without leaving teaching at the university, began to work as an assistant librarian in the royal castle.

The library took up little time, now it was open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays from one in the afternoon to four. But the librarian's salary was also low - 62 thalers a year. Kant still had to think about additional earnings. At one time he was in charge of a private mineralogical collection.

In 1770, by decree of the king, Kant was appointed ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics. The philosopher defends his fourth dissertation. In the 1770s, acquaintance with the work of Hume awakened Kant from his "dogmatic sleep". Let us recall that, according to Hume, sensory experience cannot give us universal and necessary knowledge. And this means that on the basis of empirical data it is impossible to erect the edifice of theoretical science. But then how is scientific knowledge possible at all? In search of an answer to this question, Kant turns to the methodology of scientific knowledge. In Kant's time, metaphysics was concerned with the study of the world as a whole, the soul and God. Metaphysics relied on formal logic, the foundations of which were laid by Aristotle. But already Kant's predecessor, the German philosopher Leibniz, showed that, using this logic, metaphysics comes to mutually exclusive conclusions about the world as a whole, for example, to the conclusion that it is finite and infinite at the same time. Starting from the contradictions that Leibniz-Wolf's metaphysics exposed in Germany, Kant draws his conclusion: metaphysics is generally impossible as a rigorous science.

Kant saw the main defect of metaphysics in the fact that it is dogmatic, since it absolutely uncritically accepts the implicit premise that knowledge of the world as a whole is possible, and at the same time does not explore our cognitive capabilities in any way. Although it is precisely this task, Kant believes, that philosophy must first of all solve. And Kant calls such a philosophy, in contrast to dogmatic metaphysics, critical philosophy. It was a revolution in philosophy, equal in scale to the French Revolution. Kant himself compared it to the Copernican upheaval in astronomy.

Thus, the "critical" period in Kant's work begins in the 1770s. At this time, his famous Critics were created. Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, and Critique of Judgment. Kant's critique of metaphysics led to a revision of what and how philosophy should study. And above all, she discovered the emptiness of the logic used by traditional metaphysics. Kant saw the disadvantage of such formal logic in the fact that it does not allow obtaining new knowledge, but only transforms existing knowledge. This is the logic of analysis, not the logic of synthesis.

In 1774 pedagogy began to be taught at the University of Königsberg. The new subject was read, changing each other, by seven professors of the Faculty of Philosophy. Kant's turn came in the winter of 1776. As a textbook, Kant used Basedow's book, introducing his own corrections and additions to it, as usual. As a result, an independent work "On Pedagogy" appeared, published shortly before the death of the philosopher by his student Rink. "Two human inventions can be considered the most difficult: the art of managing and the art of educating," wrote Kant. But society is based on them. "A man can become a man only through education. He is what education makes of him."

In 1777 Minister Zedlitz offered Professor Kant to take a chair in Halle. But got rejected. Then the minister offered a salary of 800 thalers (Kant's salary was 236 thalers) and the title of court adviser.

The philosopher stood his ground. He did not need any big money, no fame, no court ranks. Any change in lifestyle frightened him. Moving to a foreign city could only hurt the work. He wrote the Critique of Pure Reason.

Kant worked on it in the spring and summer of 1780. Large pieces were ready for a long time, so everything was completed within five months. He knew the weaknesses of the book, mainly stylistic, but he no longer had the strength to rewrite it, and besides, he was eager to present his offspring to the public.

In the "Critique of Pure Reason" Kant made changes to the content of the concepts of "metaphysics" and "theory of knowledge". Metaphysics for him is the same as for the "dogmatic philosophers", especially the school of Wolf - the science of the absolute, but within the boundaries of human reason. The theory of knowledge is a border guard that opposes the passage through the boundaries of the knowable, blaming it on pure reason, striving for knowledge. For knowledge, according to Kant, rests entirely on experience, on sensory perception. Only the senses give us information about the actual external world. But if all our knowledge begins with experience, then it still does not follow entirely from it. Rather, it is formed with the help of already given in the knowing mind before and independently of any experience, that is, a priori, forms of contemplation of space and time and mental, or rational, forms of categories, the purpose of which Kant called transcendental.

The publication of the Critique of Pure Reason did not become a sensation. The book was read with difficulty, without arousing interest. All this had a depressing effect on the philosopher. Wishing to clarify, Kant writes "Prolegomena to any future metaphysics" (1883). But this time they did not understand him.

Salvation came in the person of Johann Schulz, who came out with the popularization of Kant's teachings. His review turned into a book entitled An Explanatory Exposition of the Critique of Pure Reason. It was a conscientious commentary on Kant's theory of knowledge.

"Kantian fever" engulfed the German universities. In some places the authorities got worried. In Marburg, the local landgrave forbade the teaching of Kant's philosophy until it was found out whether it undermined the foundations of human knowledge.

In the meantime, Kant was elected rector of the university (he was in this position for a year), and the Berlin Academy of Sciences included him among its members (this is already for life).

In 1788, the Critique of Practical Reason was published. Kant's independent ethics of duty, set forth in this book and representing a significant achievement of philosophy, became the basis for the following reasoning: although the mind is incapable of knowing objects purely a priori, that is, without experience, it can nevertheless determine the will of a person and his practical behavior. At the same time, it turns out that, as a person, a person is below the laws of nature, is under the influence of the outside world, he is not free. According to his "cognizing" character, that is, as an individual, he is free and follows only his practical reason. The moral law to which he follows is the categorical imperative, which is formulated as follows: "Act in such a way that the maxim of your will may at any time become the principle of universal legislation." More specifically: it is not the pursuit of happiness, aimed at achieving external benefits, not love or sympathy that makes an act moral, but only respect for the moral law and following the duty. This ethics of duty gives not theoretical, but practical confidence in the freedom of a moral act, in the immortality of a morally acting person, since in this life he has no right to a reward for his morality, gives confidence in God as the guarantor of morality and the reward for it. These three beliefs Kant calls the "practical postulates" of God, freedom and immortality.

Of course, the philosopher himself was not always and not in everything guided by the prescriptions of the categorical imperative. He was petty (especially in old age), eccentric, impatient, tight-fisted (even when material well-being came), pedantic (although he was aware that pedantry is evil, "painful formalism", and scolded pedants), did not tolerate objections. Life forced him to compromise, and he sometimes cunning and adapting. But in general, his behavior corresponded to the ideal of an internally free personality, which he outlined in his ethical works. There was a goal of life, there was a conscious duty, there was the ability to control one's desires and passions, even one's own body. There was character. There was kindness.

Nature endows a person with temperament, he develops character himself. Trying to gradually become better, Kant believed, is a waste of work. Character is created at once, by means of an explosion, a moral revolution. People feel the need for moral renewal only in adulthood; Kant survived it on the threshold of forty years. Financial independence came later.

In 1784, Kant bought his own house - two-story, eight-room. His savings have long ago exceeded 20 gold pieces, which were put aside for a rainy day. Now he could easily shell out 5,500 guilders for the property of the widow of the artist Becker (once created his portrait). At a quarter to five in the morning, Lampe's servant appeared in the professor's bedroom. Kant made his way to his office, where he drank two cups of weak tea and smoked his only pipe of the day. (Tolstoy was mistaken in attributing to Kant an unbridled passion for tobacco, saying that if he had not smoked so much, the Critique of Pure Reason probably would not have been written "in such needlessly incomprehensible language").

The philosopher loved coffee, but tried not to drink it, considering it harmful. Lectures usually began at seven o'clock, as a rule, he read logic and physical geography in the summer, metaphysics and anthropology in the winter. After class, the professor sat down in his office again. At a quarter to one, friends invited to dinner appeared in the house. Exactly at one o'clock, Lampe appeared on the threshold of the office and uttered the sacramental formula "Soup on the table." Dinner was the only meal the philosopher permitted himself.

Fairly dense, with good wine (Kant did not recognize beer), it lasted up to four or five hours. His favorite dish was fresh cod. The philosopher spent the afternoon on his feet. During the life of Green (who died in 1786). Kant used to visit him, and they dozed in armchairs; now he considered sleep in the middle of the day harmful and did not even sit down so as not to doze off. It was time for the legendary walk.

The Koenigsbergers are accustomed to seeing their celebrity taking a walk with a quiet step at the same time along the route of the "philosophical path". Returning home, the philosopher gave orders for the household. He devoted the evening hours to light reading (newspapers, magazines, fiction), the thoughts that arose at the same time were put down on paper. At ten o'clock Kant went to bed.

A regular way of life, observance of the hygienic rules prescribed for oneself pursued one goal - maintaining health. Kant did not trust drugs, he considered them poison for his weak nervous system. Kant's hygiene program is simple

1) Keep your head, legs and chest cold. Wash feet in ice water ("lest the blood vessels away from the heart weaken")

2) Less sleep "Bed nest diseases." Sleep only at night, short and deep sleep. If sleep does not come by itself, one must be able to call it. The word "Cicero" had a magical hypnotic effect on Kant, repeating it to himself, he scattered his thoughts and quickly fell asleep.

3) Move more, serve yourself, walk in any weather.

With regard to nutrition, Kant recommends first of all to abandon liquid food and, if possible, limit drinking. How many times do you eat during the day? We already know one amazing answer from Kant!

The old philosopher-bachelor assured that unmarried or early widowed men "retain a youthful appearance longer", and family faces "bear the seal of the yoke", which makes it possible to assume the longevity of the former compared to the latter.

In the late 1780s, Kant began to look for new ways to create a philosophical system. For in philosophy he valued systematicity above all else, and was himself a great systematist. The general contours of the doctrine were formed long ago. But the system didn't exist yet. Of course, the two first "Critiques" are connected in a certain way, the same concept is developed in them. But the achieved unity between theoretical and practical reason seemed to him insufficient. Some important mediating link was missing.

Kant's system of philosophy was formed only after he discovered a kind of "third world" between nature and freedom - the world of beauty. When Kant created the Critique of Pure Reason, he believed that aesthetic problems could not be comprehended from generally valid positions. The principles of beauty are empirical in nature and, therefore, cannot serve to establish the universal laws of the universal principle of spiritual activity, namely "feelings of pleasure and displeasure."

Now Kant's philosophical system takes on clearer contours. He sees it as consisting of three parts in accordance with the three abilities of the human psyche - cognitive, evaluative ("feeling of pleasure") and volitional ("ability of desire"). The Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason set out the first and third parts of the philosophical system, theoretical and practical.

The second, central, Kant still calls teleology - the doctrine of expediency. Then teleology will give way to aesthetics - the doctrine of beauty. Kant intended to finish the conceived work by the spring of 1788. But the work got delayed again. It took another two springs and two summers before the manuscript went to the printers. The treatise was called "Critique of the faculty of judgment."

After Frederick II, the throne was inherited by his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm II. Unlike his uncle, a free-thinking despot, a determined administrator, commander and patron of sciences, the current king was a weak-willed, narrow-minded, prone to mysticism. Initially, Kant's relationship with the new king was favorable for the philosopher. It was the time of his first rectorship, when Friedrich Wilhelm II arrived in Konigsberg to take the oath. The head of the university was invited to the royal castle, on behalf of the professors and students, Kant welcomed the monarch and was treated kindly by him. (The philosopher refused to participate in the solemn divine service, citing illness).

In the year of his second rectorship (1788), Kant opened a celebratory meeting on the occasion of the royal jubilee. The King authorized the admission of Kant to the Academy of Sciences without any introduction from Koenigsberg. Berlin significantly increased his salary, which now amounted to 720 thalers.

In July 1794, Kant was elected to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and already in October he received a reprimand from the king, but no one (except the philosopher himself) found out about this. The royal decree was not made public, it came as a private letter. Friedrich-Wilhelm wrote to Kant that he abused his philosophy to distort and humiliate some of the main and basic provisions of Holy Scripture and the Christian faith.

They demanded an immediate response from Kant, and he answered, observing all the necessary humble formulas of a loyal subject addressing his monarch, - he did not repent, but, on the contrary, resolutely rejected the accusations against him on all counts. It was not in Kant's rules to renounce his views, it was beyond his power to resist. On a piece of paper that had turned up by chance, he formulated the only possible tactic. "Renunciation of inner conviction is low, but silence in a case like this is the duty of a subject, if everything you say must be true, then it is not necessary to publicly express the whole truth."

Kant continued to develop ethical problems. Several works are dedicated to them: "Fundamentals of the Metaphysics of Morals" (1785), "Critique of Practical Reason" (1788), "Metaphysics of Morals" (1797), "On the Primordial Evil in Human Nature" (1792), "On the Saying "maybe this is true in theory, but unsuitable for practice" (1793), "Religion within the limits of reason alone" (1793).

In his Metaphysics of Morals, he presented a whole range of human moral duties. He considered very important the duties of a person in relation to himself, which included taking care of his health and his life. He considered suicide as a vice, undermining a person's health through drunkenness and gluttony. The virtues included truthfulness, honesty, sincerity, conscientiousness, self-esteem. It was said that one should not become a slave of a person, allow others to violate their rights with impunity, allow servility, etc.

In 1795, the Treaty of Basel was concluded between France and Prussia, which ended the war, but maintained a state of hostility between the countries. Kant responded to these events with the famous treatise Toward Perpetual Peace, in which theoretical thoroughness was organically combined with political topicality and was expressed in an ironic form. None of Kant's writings evoked such immediate and lively responses.

The first edition of the treatise "Towards Perpetual Peace" was literally snatched up. This work was the last work of Kant.

Having reached the age of 75, Kant began to weaken rapidly. At first the physical, then the mental forces left him more and more. Back in 1797, Kant stopped lecturing, since 1798 he did not accept any more invitations and gathered only his closest friends at home.

Since 1799, he was forced to give up even walking. Despite this, Kant tried to write: "The system of pure philosophy in its entirety," but Kant's strength was already exhausted.

In 1803, Kant wrote down on a memorial sheet the biblical words "A man's life lasts 70 years, many 80". He was 79 years old at the time.

In October 1803, Kant had a seizure. Since then, his strength was rapidly fading away, he could no longer sign his name, he forgot the most ordinary words.

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Basically, our site is dedicated to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (his thoughts, ideas, works and life), but in philosophy everything is connected, therefore, it is difficult to understand one philosopher without reading all the others at all.
The origins of philosophical thought must be sought in antiquity...
The philosophy of modern times arose through a break with scholasticism. The symbols of this break are Bacon and Descartes. The rulers of the thoughts of the new era - Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume ...
In the 18th century, an ideological, as well as a philosophical and scientific direction appeared - "Enlightenment". Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and other prominent enlighteners advocated a social contract between the people and the state in order to ensure the right to security, freedom, prosperity and happiness ... Representatives of the German classics - Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Feuerbach - for the first time realize that man does not live in the world of nature, but in the world of culture. The 19th century is the century of philosophers and revolutionaries. Thinkers appeared who not only explained the world, but also wished to change it. For example, Marx. In the same century, European irrationalists appeared - Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bergson ... Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are the founders of nihilism, the philosophy of negation, which had many followers and successors. Finally, in the 20th century, among all the currents of world thought, existentialism can be distinguished - Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre ... The starting point of existentialism is the philosophy of Kierkegaard ...
Russian philosophy, according to Berdyaev, begins with the philosophical letters of Chaadaev. The first representative of Russian philosophy known in the West, Vl. Solovyov. The religious philosopher Lev Shestov was close to existentialism. The most revered Russian philosopher in the West is Nikolai Berdyaev.
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