IMMANUEL KANT 1724-1804

Abstract

Immanuel Kant is one of the most influential philosophers of all time, celebrated as a key figure of the Enlightenment and well known for his writings across various philosophical fields. Kant’s brilliant and complex philosophical system - his ‘critical philosophy’ – was central to shaping ideas in German Idealism and Romanticism. Kant’s most influential work in ethics appears in Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. One of the key principles of Kant’s moral philosophy is ‘respect for persons’. The interesting links between Kant’s moral and aesthetic philosophy help to position his ideas within environmental thought. Kant’s aesthetic theory offers a conception of the non-instrumental aesthetic value of nature. Kant himself draws out affinities between aesthetic and moral experience, while also maintaining the autonomy of the aesthetic. Kant’s theory of the sublime presents an aesthetic category linked to moral ideas, and one that is directed mainly, if not exclusively, at nature.