THE AGE OF REVOLUTION 171
(using our skin, nerves, eyes, ears,
and so on). This provides us with
one way of understanding the
distinction between bodies and
the external world: the body as
the medium of my sensations is
different from other external and
material things.
Lasting influence
Kant’s book Critique of Pure Reason
is arguably the most significant
single work in the history of
modern philosophy. Indeed, the
whole subject of philosophy is often
divided by many modern thinkers
into everything that happened
before Kant, and everything that
has happened since.
Before Kant, empiricists such as
John Locke emphasized what Kant
termed sensibility, but rationalists
such as Descartes tended to
emphasize understanding. Kant
argues that our experience of the
world always involves both, so it is
frequently said that Kant combined
rationalism and empiricism.
Rationalism
The rationalists believed that
the use of reason, rather than
experience, leads to knowledge
of objects in the world.Empiricism
The empiricists believed that
knowledge comes from our
experience of objects in the
world, rather than our reason.Transcendental Idealism
Kant’s theory of transcendental
idealism stated that both reason
and experience were necessary
to understand the world.After Kant, German philosophy in
particular progressed rapidly. The
idealists Johann Fichte, Friedrich
Schelling, and Georg Hegel all took
Kant’s thought in new directions
and, in their turn, influenced the
whole of 19th-century thought,
from romanticism to Marxism.
Kant's sophisticated critique of
metaphysical thought was also
important in positivism, which
held that every justifiable assertion
is capable of being scientifically
or logically verified.
The fact that Kant locates the
a priori even within our intuitions
of the world was important for
20th-century phenomenologists
such as Edmund Husserl and
Martin Heidegger, who sought to
examine objects of experience
independently of any assumptions
we may have about them. Kant’s
work also remains an important
reference point for contemporary
philosophers today, especially
in the branches of metaphysics
and epistemology. ■Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was born into a
family of financially struggling
artisans in 1724, and he lived
and worked his whole life in
the cosmopolitan Baltic port
city of Konigsberg, then part
of Prussia. Though he never
left his native province, he
became an internationally
famous philosopher within
his own lifetime.
Kant studied philosophy,
physics, and mathematics at
the University of Konigsberg,
and taught at the same
institution for the next 27
years. In 1792 his unorthodox
views led King Friedrich
Wilhelm II to ban him from
teaching, to which he returned
after the king’s death five
years later. Kant published
throughout his career, but is
best known for the series of
ground-breaking works he
produced in his 50s and 60s.
Though a bright and sociable
man, he never married, and
died at the age of 80.Key works1781 Critique of Pure Reason
1785 Foundations of the
Metaphysics of Morals
1788 Critique of Practical
Reason
1790 Critique of Judgement