Emmanuel Kant

Set the limits of reason; act from duty.

Critical philosophy (transcendental idealism) · Kantian ethics1724 – 1804 GermanyCritical philosopherEthics of dutyEnlightenment philosopher

Overview Arguments · 16 Works Quotes Lineage

Zwei Dinge erfüllen das Gemüth mit immer neuer und zunehmender Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht

Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.

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Ich mußte also das Wissen aufheben, um zum Glauben Platz zu bekommen

I must, therefore, abolish knowledge, to make room for belief.

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Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage.

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Sein ist offenbar kein reales Prädikat

Being is evidently not a real predicate.

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Misconceptions

False

Kant was an atheist: he demolished the proofs of God.

He demolishes the theoretical proofs, but affirms God's existence as a "postulate of practical reason". His aim: to limit knowledge to make room for faith.

Nuanced

For Kant, one must never lie, not even to a murderer.

That is indeed his position in a short 1797 text replying to Benjamin Constant (not yet in our corpus). Many Kantians today think his own theory allows a different answer: the debate is open.