Friedrich Nietzsche made this indictment and prediction about the effect of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy:
“As soon as Kant would begin to exert a popular influence, we should find it reflected in the form of a gnawing and crumbling skepticism and relativism.”
Strong language, and it goes against a popular interpretation of Kant as the savior of reason.
Kant is a challenging read, yet he is arguably the most influential philosopher of the past 240 years. So here is my guide to understanding Kant and the controversies over how properly to interpret him.
I recommend starting with the Second Preface to his Critique of Pure Reason. CPR is Kant’s foundational and most important work. Yet it’s long and complicated. When he published the second edition in 1787, he took pains to write a new preface outlining his main conclusions, his reasons for them, and their key implications for future philosophy. And it’s only 12 pages.
Here is the text of Kant’s “Second Preface” itself: PDF.
Here is my primer close-reading of the text: Video.
Here is a scholarly article by me on its relevance for the Is-Kant-objectivist-or-subjectivist debate: PDF. (The source for the Nietzsche quotation is within.)
Here is my book-length discussion of Kant’s intellectual-history significance on the road to postmodernism: Text or Audiobook.
Here is how Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason works with his later Critique of Judgment and their joint influence on modernist and postmodernist art: Video Interview.
Related: Philosophers, Explained series on the great philosophers and their major works..
The video link did not work: “Here is how Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason works with his later Critique of Judgment and their joint influence on modernist and postmodernist art: Video Interview.”
I would like to see it if still available.
Thanks, Jack. Link fixed.