why his philosophy is still relevant today – DW – 22.04.2024

If you want to understand the world, you don’t need to go around it yourself. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) eloquently proved this maxim. On April 22, the world celebrates the 300th anniversary of his birth. The German philosopher never left his native Königsberg in East Prussia, today Kaliningrad, which, however, did not prevent him from seeing the essence of the world: his ideas revolutionized philosophy and made him a pioneer of the Enlightenment. His most famous work, Critique of Pure Reason, is considered a turning point in intellectual history. Today, Kant is considered one of the most important thinkers of all time.

Pioneer of the Enlightenment

Many of his theses are still valid today – especially in view of climate change, various wars and crises. What, for example, could lead to lasting peace between states? In his 1795 essay Towards Eternal Peace, Kant advocated the creation of a “Union of Nations” as a federal community of republican states. According to Kant, political actions should always be guided by morality. His work became a project for the creation of the League of Nations after the First World War (1914-1918), the predecessor of the United Nations.

In addition to principles of international law, Kant also developed world civil law, with which he rejected colonialism and imperialism and formulated the idea of ​​humane treatment of refugees: according to the German philosopher, every person has the right to visit any country, but not necessarily to be its guest.

For reasonable arguments

Kant justified human dignity and human rights not religiously with God, but philosophically with reason. Kant believed in the capabilities of people – that they are capable of taking responsibility for themselves and for the world. Bill is convinced that with reason and arguments we can manage in life. From here he formulated the rule for the so-called categorical imperative. Today, we would briefly formulate it like this: Do only what is for the good of all.

In 1781, Kant published what is probably his most important work. In the Critique of Pure Reason he poses the four basic questions of philosophy: What can I know? What should I do? What can I hope for? What is man? The search for answers to these questions is known as a theory of knowledge. Unlike many other philosophers before him, in his treatise he explains that human reason cannot answer questions such as the existence of God, the soul, or the beginning of the world.

“Dare to use your mind”

“Kant is not just the light in this world, but the whole shining solar system” – this is the compliment the German writer Jean Paul (1763-1825) gave to his contemporary. Other intellectual greats, however, found Kant’s works too difficult to understand. The philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, for example, complained that reading made him nervous and added that he was unable to do so.

The teachings and works of Immanuel Kant laid the foundations for a new way of thinking. Kant’s phrase “Sapere aude” (“Dare to use reason”) became widely known and made him a pioneer of the Enlightenment. This intellectual movement, which arose in Europe at the end of the 17th century, proclaimed human reason as the standard for all actions. In his writings, Kant calls on people to free themselves from any instructions (such as God’s commands) and to take responsibility for their own actions. He is also the author of the following famous quote: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.”

Myths and prejudices

Numerous criticisms and prejudices regarding Kant still circulate today. The German philosopher and Kant scholar Otfried Höfe, for example, addresses some of them in his new book, The Citizen of the World from Königsberg, including whether Kant was a “racist” and whether he discriminated against women.

Kant is not a racist in the modern sense of the word, on the contrary: he condemns colonialism and slavery. Although he never traveled beyond Königsberg, the East Prussian capital was a bustling commercial city at the time, dubbed the “Venice of the North.” Kant also absorbed travelogues from other countries.

Finally: was Kant a irascible man and a misanthrope? Today, science refutes this prejudice: Although Kant had a strictly regulated daily life, he enjoyed long lunches with friends and acquaintances, loved billiards and card games, went to the theater and was considered a charming companion in city salons, entertaining the others.

Anniversary events

In 2024, Kant and his work will be honored with many events, including in Germany: for example, in the Bundeskunsthalle exhibition hall in Bonn, a large exhibition about Kant will be arranged. In June, a major scientific conference will be held in Berlin, and in the autumn – again in Bonn – an International Congress on Kant, which was originally planned to take place in Kaliningrad, but because of Russian aggression against Ukraine, it cannot be held there.

Kant’s grave is located behind the cathedral in Königsberg/Kaliningrad – one of the city’s landmarks. The Gothic church is one of the few historic buildings that survived the bombings of World War II and the subsequent wave of destruction in the Soviet state.