Here are some fun facts about Kant:
- He thought that peace would be the eventual end of history.
- He believed that the "mind was the structure of human experience."
- No one really knows Kant's religious beliefs--theories have ranged from atheism to traditional Christianity. (He was raised in a strictly traditional Lutheran family).
- The King of Prussia banned him from writing or speaking publically about religion.
- His most famous work is The Critique of Pure Reason.
- When his father died, he had to drop out of university before his friend loaned him money to complete his education.
- Kant was roughly five feet tall and had a deformed shoulder and poor health for most of his life.
- He lived in East Prussia and never traveled more than 40 miles away from where he worked.
Source:
http://tonsoffacts.com/26-fun-and-interesting-facts-about-immanuel-kant/
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing these fun facts, Lainey. I feel like one of the most significant things written here is the fact that Kant never traveled farther than 40 miles from his workplace/home. To formulate such strong ideas and start a whole movement is incredibly significant but to do so without being mobile and therefore without the ability to explore new things on foot and by observation, is particularly impressive and interesting. This is especially interesting since one of the main parts of the Enlightenment is Western empiricism, which is based off of data that is observed through the 5 senses. Therefore, it can be assumed that Kant was an explorative personality that found inspiration even within limited space, making his impact even more impressive.
Too cool! I bet y'all kant wait to learn more about Kant! Haha :)
That's a really interesting perspective, Gabby.
I agree with Gabby on how interesting it is that Kant was able to develop this philosophy without traveling more than 40 miles from his home! One would think it would be quite difficult for someone to formulate such radical ideas without traveling and exploring different ideas from around Europe and Asia. The fact that the King of Prussia at the time banned Kant from voicing his religious opinions publicly could correlate with Kant's point in towards the end of "What is Enlightenment?" The more restriction inflected by the government/military, the more likely a civilian is to be enlightened.
Looking back on this post after reading portions of "Notes from Underground", I find it even more interesting that Kant thought peace would be the end of human history. The underground man would likely find this to be impossible, as he argues that peace is impossible due to our fundamental desire to act against reason/logic (our need to create destruction.)
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