Essays on Kant’s Anthropology

Kant’s lectures on anthropology capture him at the height of his intellectual power. They are immensely important for advancing our understanding of Kant’s conception of anthropology, its development, and the notoriously difficult relationship between it and the critical philosophy. This collection of essays by some of the leading commentators on Kant offers a systematic account of the philosophical importance of this material that should nevertheless prove of interest to historians of ideas and political theorists. There are two broad approaches adopted: a number of the essays consider the systematic relations of the anthropology to critical philosophy, especially speculative knowledge and ethics. Other essays focus on the anthropology as a major source for the clarification of both the content and development of Kant’s work. The volume also serves as an interpretative complement to the translation of the lectures in the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant.

• A systematic account of crucial series of Kant’s lectures • High-profile contributors • Complements the forthcoming translation of Kant’s Lectures on Anthropology in the Cambridge edition

Contributors; 1. Introduction Brian Jacobs and Patrick Kain; 2. Historical notes and interpretive questions about Kant’s lectures on anthropology Werner Stark; 3. Kant and the problem of human nature Allen W. Wood; 4. The second part of morals Robert B. Louden; 5. The guiding idea of Kant’s anthropology and the vocation of the human being Reinhard Brandt; 6. Kantian character and the problem of a science of humanity Brian Jacobs; 7. Beauty, freedom and morality: Kant’s Lectures on Anthropology and the development of his aesthetic theory Paul Guyer; 8. Kant’s apology for sensibility Howard Caygill; 9. Kant’s ‘True economy of human nature’: Rousseau, Count Verri and the problem of happiness Susan Meld Shell; 10. Prudential reason in Kant’s anthropology Patrick Kain.