Kant, Immanuel

Kant, Immanuel (1724–1804). German philosopher. He was born in Königsberg of devoutly Pietist parents, and spent all his life there, becoming Professor of logic and metaphysics at the university in 1770.

He wrote his most important books in his later years, especially the three Critiques. The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) deals with fundamental questions about human knowledge, understanding, and reason, and has been one of the most influential works of modern philosophy. In the later part of the Critique Kant criticizes the ontological, cosmological, and teleological arguments for God's existence. He allows, however, that the ideas of God, the soul, and the world may have what Kant calls a ‘regulative’ role. Thus, although Kant attacked traditional metaphysics and natural theology, he allowed for the possibility of a ‘rational faith’.

Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (1785) is a significant work on moral philosophy, famous for its discussion of the ‘categorical imperative’, a test whereby we judge our moral principles at the bar of reason, to see if they are indeed universal rules valid for all people.

Kant's last substantial discussion of religious questions was his Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone (1793), in which he further developed his idea of a ‘pure, rational religion’, rejecting ‘false worship’. He discussed questions concerning divine commands, grace, the nature of Christ's redemption, the atonement, and the Church, stressing the primacy of the rational moral judgement and often criticizing traditional doctrines.