Immanuel Kant - the founder of German classical philosophy

Immanuel Kant is a German philosopher whose judgments were influenced by the works of Plato and Berkeley, Wolff and Sextus Empiricus, Spinoza and Leibniz. The future scientist graduated from the gymnasium "Friedrichs-Collegium", and then continued his studies at the University of Königsberg, but he did not succeed in obtaining a diploma at once. Immanuel Kant, whose biography includes many difficult events, was forced to interrupt his studies because of his father's death and start working. Only in 1755 the young scientist managed to defend his doctoral dissertation, and was given the right to work as a teacher at the university.

Stages of creativity : In the "subcritical" period, Immanuel Kant adhered to the positions of natural scientific materialism, concentrating on the problems of mechanics and cosmology, physical geography and anthropology. At this stage the scientist worked out the problems posed by the preceding philosophical thought. So, he put forward a new hypothesis of the formation of the solar system, first introduced the concept of the gas nebula, studied the tides and explored their role. The scientist thought about the natural origin of mankind without divine intervention and sought to classify animals according to their species.

In the "critical" period, the philosopher Immanuel Kant dealt with the problems of epistemology, concentrating on the process of cognition, meditating on the general philosophical and metaphysical problems of being, man and cognition, morality and aesthetics, law and the state. The scientist draws conclusions about the possibility of a priori knowledge in the form of theoretical science and mathematics, giving each a priori form sensory images. During this period of his work, Immanuel Kant, whose philosophy changes radically, becomes an agnostic, denying the possibility of metaphysical cognition.

The philosopher understands that the full disclosure of the concepts "nature", "soul" and "God" is impossible, and no person can associate such words with a concrete sense image. And the object of knowledge can be constructed by the consciousness of man from sensory images with the help of a priori forms of mind. The scientist draws a fine line between reason and reason, and ascribes to the first concept a dialectical character. So, according to the philosopher, the human mind will face contradictions in an effort to solve the problem of the infinity or finiteness of the world, its complexity or simplicity.

Theory of knowledge : Immanuel Kant rejected the dogmatic method of cognition, using instead of him the method of critical philosophy, the essence of which is to study the possibilities of cognition of the mind. The scientist put forward the thesis that "pure" knowledge begins with experience on which the a priori activity of consciousness is based. The strength of the human mind, as Kant believed, is not unlimited, and is often associated with dogmas that are amenable to justification. And knowledge about the surrounding world does not always reflect the objective reality, but is formed under the influence of sensual images and through contemplation.

Moral Teaching : A significant place in Kant's works is occupied by his judgments about God and the church, and he does not represent a world created without divine intervention. However, the philosopher mentions an imaginary morality, to which instinct and external authority, principles of pleasantness and utility, various human feelings, relate. A person is viewed by scientists from two sides - as a special phenomenon and as a "thing-in-itself". On the one hand, the actions of any person are determined by all sorts of external factors, and on the other - by the highest moral principles. Therefore, any representative of the human race strives for material prosperity and virtue, although such desires often conflict with each other.