Though Bacon was a materialistic monist, the implied dualism of the new science was the man vs. Part of Kant’s worry is the same worry that Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel are all concerned with-namely, avoiding epistemological nihilism (though they each go in different directions in trying to resolve this issue).įor Kant, the problem of modern philosophy was the implicit dualism of both Descartes and Bacon. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason establishes an important tradition with the German idealist and romantic tradition: dealing with the problem of post-Cartesian rationalism and British empiricism, especially the new science of Francis Bacon.

Unlike his contemporaries and heirs, he also travelled little preferring instead to remain in Konigsberg for much of his life. Kant was something of a late bloomer in philosopher, especially when compared to the other German idealists and romantics whom he is a sort of father of: Fichte and Schelling were famous by their early and mid-twenties, Hegel by his mid-thirties, but Kant did not garner his reputation until the 1780s and already in his fifties.

As such, we’re going to explore the prefaces (17) and introduction to Kant’s great work: The Critique of Pure Reason. Both sides will claim Kant when it suits them and both sides will toss him out when it suits them. He situates himself in the nexus of the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment sometimes he is seen as a schizophrenic figure who is at once in both camps. Immanuel Kant is a philosopher of profound consequence and importance.

Immanuel kant reason