112. The Philosophy of Kant

This topic will provide an introduction to some of the central ideas in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724- 1804), one of the most important and influential thinkers in the western philosophical tradition. The main focus of the topic is Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787), a work which aims to mark the boundaries to our knowledge and to explain the possibility of metaphysics, natural science, and mathematics. There is also the option to study the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), in which Kant lays out the basis of his moral theory, arguing that reason is the source of moral principles. They are linked through Kant's insistence that both the laws of nature and the laws of morality are grounded in human reason itself and that the domain of nature has to be limited in order to make room for freedom. In the conclusion to his Critique of Practical Reason, Kant writes: `Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily reflection is occupied with them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me'. Those words are now inscribed on his tombstone. This topic will allow you to explore Kant's views on the starry heavens and the moral law, and on nature and freedom.