Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant

Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant PDF Author: Paul Guyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198850336
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant provides the first in-depth examination of the lifelong intellectual relationship between two of the greatest figures of the European Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). Both were engaged in a common project of striking the right balance between rationalism and empiricism. They sometimes borrowed from one another, often disagreed with one another, and can usefully be compared even when they did not directly interact. Guyer examines a series of comparisons and contrasts: their arguments and conclusions on a range of metaphysical issues, including proofs of the existence of God, immortality, and idealism; their shared interests in aesthetics; and their path-breaking work on the "religion of reason" and the separation of church and state. Setting the work of both philosophers in historical context, Guyer shows that, where Kant sometimes provides deeper insight into the underlying structure of human thought, Mendelssohn is often the deeper student of the variety of human experience. This is evident above all in their treatments of aesthetics and religion: Mendelssohn recognizes more deeply than Kant the emotional impact of art, and while Kant imagines that organized religion will one day be superseded by pure morality, Mendelssohn argued that organized religion in all its varieties seems here to stay, and so toleration for religious variety is an inescapable requirement of human morality. Based on an exhaustive study of a wide range of texts, this study demonstrates the on-going relevance of Kant and Mendelssohn to modern thought.

Kant: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason

Kant: Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason PDF Author: Immanuel Kant
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108298125
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason is a key element of the system of philosophy which Kant introduced with his Critique of Pure Reason, and a work of major importance in the history of Western religious thought. It represents a great philosopher's attempt to spell out the form and content of a type of religion that would be grounded in moral reason and would meet the needs of ethical life. It includes sharply critical and boldly constructive discussions on topics not often treated by philosophers, including such traditional theological concepts as original sin and the salvation or 'justification' of a sinner, and the idea of the proper role of a church. This new edition includes slightly revised translations, a revised introduction with expanded discussion of certain key themes in the work, and up-to-date guidance on further reading.

Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant

Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant PDF Author: Paul Guyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192590677
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant provides the first in-depth examination of the lifelong intellectual relationship between two of the greatest figures of the European Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). Both were engaged in a common project of striking the right balance between rationalism and empiricism. They sometimes borrowed from one another, often disagreed with one another, and can usefully be compared even when they did not directly interact. Guyer examines a series of comparisons and contrasts: their arguments and conclusions on a range of metaphysical issues, including proofs of the existence of God, immortality, and idealism; their shared interests in aesthetics; and their path-breaking work on the "religion of reason" and the separation of church and state. Setting the work of both philosophers in historical context, Guyer shows that, where Kant sometimes provides deeper insight into the underlying structure of human thought, Mendelssohn is often the deeper student of the variety of human experience. This is evident above all in their treatments of aesthetics and religion: Mendelssohn recognizes more deeply than Kant the emotional impact of art, and while Kant imagines that organized religion will one day be superseded by pure morality, Mendelssohn argued that organized religion in all its varieties seems here to stay, and so toleration for religious variety is an inescapable requirement of human morality. Based on an exhaustive study of a wide range of texts, this study demonstrates the on-going relevance of Kant and Mendelssohn to modern thought.

Kant and the Experience of Freedom

Kant and the Experience of Freedom PDF Author: Paul Guyer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521568333
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Book Description
This collection of essays by one of the preeminent Kant scholars of our time transforms our understanding of both Kant's aesthetics and his ethics. Guyer shows that at the very core of Kant's aesthetic theory, disinterestedness of taste becomes an experience of freedom and thus an essential accompaniment to morality itself. At the same time he reveals how Kant's moral theory includes a distinctive place for the cultivation of both general moral sentiments and particular attachments on the basis of the most rigorous principle of duty. Kant's thought is placed in a rich historical context including such figures as Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Hume, Burke, Kames, as well as Baumgarten, Mendelssohn, Schiller, and Hegel. Other topics treated are the sublime, natural versus artistic beauty, genius and art history, and duty and inclination. These essays extend and enrich the account of Kant's aesthetics in the author's earlier book, Kant and the Claims of Taste (1979).

Critique of Pure Reason

Critique of Pure Reason PDF Author: Immanuel Kant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 774

Book Description
Metaphysicians have for centuries attempted to clarify the nature of the world and how rational human beings construct their ideas of it. Materialists believed that the world (including its human component) consisted of objective matter, an irreducible substance to which qualities and characteristics could be attributed. Mindthoughts, ideas, and perceptionswas viewed as a more sophisticated material substance. Idealists, on the other hand, argued that the world acquired its reality from mind, which breathed metaphysical life into substances that had no independent existence of their own. These two camps seemed deadlocked until Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason endeavored to show that the most accurate theory of reality would be one that combined relevant aspects of each position, yet transcended both to arrive at a more fundamental metaphysical theory. Kant's synthesis sought to disclose how human reason goes about constructing its experience of the world, thus intertwining objective simuli with rational processes that arrive at an orderly view of nature.

The Life of Immanuel Kant

The Life of Immanuel Kant PDF Author: John Henry Wilbrandt Stuckenberg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy, German
Languages : en
Pages : 544

Book Description


Critique of Pure Reason

Critique of Pure Reason PDF Author: Immanuel Kant
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486122131
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 514

Book Description
In his monumental Critique of Pure Reason, German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argues that human knowledge is limited by the capacity for perception. He attempts a logical designation of two varieties of knowledge: a posteriori, the knowledge acquired through experience; and a priori, knowledge not derived through experience. Kant maintains that the most practical forms of human knowledge employ the a priori judgments that are possible only when the mind determines the conditions of its own experience. This accurate translation by J. M. Meiklejohn offers a simple and direct rendering of Kant's work that is suitable for readers at all levels.

The Unity of Reason : Rereading Kant

The Unity of Reason : Rereading Kant PDF Author: Susan Neiman Professor of Philosophy Tel Aviv University
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199772118
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Book Description
The Unity of Reason is the first major study of Kant's account of reason. It argues that Kant's wide-ranging interests and goals can only be understood by redirecting attention from epistemological questions of his work to those concerning the nature of reason. Rather than accepting a notion of reason given by his predecessors, a fundamental aim of Kant's philosophy is to reconceive the nature of reason. This enables us to understand Kant's insistence on the unity of theoretical and practical reason as well as his claim that his metaphysics was driven by practical and political ends. Neiman begins by discussing the historical roots of Kant's conception of reason, and by showing Kant's solution to problems which earlier conceptions left unresolved. Kant's notion of reason itself is examined through a discussion of all the activities Kant attributes to reason. In separate chapters discussing the role of reason in science, morality, religion, and philosophy, Neiman explores Kant's distinctions between reason and knowledge, and his difficult account of the regulative principles of reason. Through examination of these principles in Kant's major and minor writings, The Unity of Reason provides a fundamentally new perspective on Kant's entire work.

The Critique of Pure Reason

The Critique of Pure Reason PDF Author: Immanuel Kant
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1365190447
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
"The most accurate and informative English translation of Kant's most important philosophical work in both the 1781 and 1787 editions; faithful rendering of Kant's terminology, syntax, and sentence structure; a simple and direct style suitable for readers at all levels; distinct versions of all those portions of the work substantially revised by Kant for the 1787 edition; all Kant's handwritten emendations and marginal notes from his own personal copy reproduced for the first time in any edition, German or English; a large-scale introduction providing a summary of the structure and arguments of the Critique as well as the most informative account available in English of its long and complex genesis; and an extensive editorial apparatus including informative annotation and glossaries."--Jacket.

Kant and Religion

Kant and Religion PDF Author: Allen W. Wood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108422349
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Explores Kant's philosophy of religion and morality through his Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason.