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Book No. – 3 (Political Science)
Book Name – A History of Political Thought: Plato to Marx (Subrata Mukherjee & S. Ramaswamy)
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1. LIFE SKETCH
2. POLITICAL IDEAS
3. PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY
4. NOTION OF PERPETUAL PEACE AND COSMOPOLITANISM
4.1. Women and Family
5. KANT AND HEGEL
6. CONCLUSION
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LANGUAGE
Immanuel Kant
Chapter – 8
Table of Contents
- Kant is considered a political philosopher of the first rank, with his evolutionary political goals potentially constituting a significant revolution in history.
- In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant aimed to set forth the limits of pure reason, addressing the problem through logical means, focusing on knowledge, experience, and morality.
- The Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important and difficult works of modern philosophy, introducing novel and comprehensive questions, necessitating the invention of technical terms.
- Kant, along with Leibniz and Goethe, was a leading figure in the German Enlightenment (Aufklarung) from around 1650 to 1800, which differed from Enlightenment movements elsewhere due to a lack of religious conflict and the nature of the German political structure.
- The German Enlightenment led to cultural unity, national unity, and improvements in the press and judicial system, fostering modern German philosophy.
- German philosophy embraced mysticism, contrasting with the empiricist tradition of French philosophy, and was more abstract and erudite than British and French thought.
- Germany lacked the political freedom seen in Britain and France due to its authoritarian political structure.
- Kant described enlightenment as the liberation of humans from self-imposed tutelage, where individuals must dare to use their own understanding and seek truth through reason.
- The French Revolution of 1789 had a significant impact on German political thinking, awakening it from its slumber and paving the way for modern political thought.
- Initially, many Germans welcomed the revolution, but disillusionment followed the Reign of Terror, leading Kant and Goethe to conclude that Germany was not yet ready for revolutionary activity.
- The bourgeoisie in Germany had not emancipated itself from the dominance of princes and aristocracy, and the country was poorer than Britain and France, with restricted political freedom.
- Despite these local challenges, Kant transcended these limitations, attempting to grasp the spirit of the Enlightenmentand envision a higher state of human evolution.
- Kant’s most significant contribution was making politics subordinate to morals, emphasizing the importance of reason and the need for international peace.
- Kant’s philosophy was essentially individualistic and liberal, affirming the supreme worth of the individual.
- His individualism was similar to that of Hobbes and Locke, who emphasized the primacy of the individual in the political realm.
- The problem of political obligation was also a problem of human relations, best resolved by recognizing individual rights and obligations.
- Kant defined the community as the ‘kingdom of ends’, where humanity should be treated as both means and ends, but never means alone.
- The philosophical foundation of Kant’s ideas was influenced by Rousseau, whom Kant viewed as a restorer of the rights of humanity and a thinker who uncovered the real human person.
- Kant was concerned with moral law and the autonomy of the human will, which he equated with the realization of freedom.