Generally speaking, Kant's philosophy belongs to the broad category of enlightenment philosophy. Although enlightenment thought and Machiavelli's thought are related, they are not completely consistent. The core idea of enlightenment is to illuminate one's way forward with one's own reason, and one's own reason is the master. But at the same time, treat others as people like you, and think that they can make decisions for their own life path with their own rationality.
In contrast, Machiavelli also emphasized the use of reason, but he emphasized the use of reason by rulers. He does not advocate treating people other than rulers as people like rulers. Machiavelli is very willing to regard others as his own tools for a certain purpose, which is the great difference between Machiavelli and Kant.
The son of leather industry who abides by his studies
Since we want to talk about Kant's philosophy of life, we must first talk about Kant's life. Heine, a great German poet, once described Kant's life in this "Overview of the History of German Religion and Philosophy". He said it is difficult to describe Kant's biography, because Kant has no life and he has no world. He lives a very mechanical and abstract single life on the quiet and remote road in Koenigsberg. Some people even think that Kant seems to have never left his hometown of Konigsberg all his life. Of course, this idea is somewhat inaccurate and can only be said to be 90% accurate.
Generally speaking, Kant abides by his studies all his life and never participates in any major realistic struggle. He is an out-and-out otaku. As far as its daily life is concerned, it is mediocre to boring and boring to mediocrity. Nevertheless, I still think that the observation of Kant's mediocre life can still tell us some interesting knowledge about how to become a talent. For example, many people now have a headache for the school district. Some people think that they have to earn a lot of money to afford a good school. Kant was actually born in poverty, but he received a very good education.
1724 On April 22nd, at 5 am, Kant was born in Knapov Island. When he was born in Knauf Island, the city of Konigsberg had not yet been established. It was not until two months after Kant was born that Konigsberg took Kant's birthplace (Knaukhov Island) as its administrative jurisdiction. Please don't underestimate the city of Konigsberg. His German can be translated into King Mountain, which sounds very domineering. He is one of the largest cities in the kingdom of Prussia and the bridgehead of Prussia in the East, with prosperous trade routes and industries. At the same time, the University of Konigsberg in the city is the education center along the Baltic Sea. Kant was lucky to be able to afford a good university as soon as he got home.
But Kant himself is still very ordinary. Although Kant was a German philosopher, in fact, Kant's great-grandfather could not speak German. He comes from the Baltic Sea. His grandfather became a shoemaker and passed on his skills to Kant's father George. They are all good at making leather saddles. As for Kant's mother, she is mainly engaged in leather-related industries such as printing and dyeing, shoemaking, etc. Whatever you think, it has nothing to do with philosophy.
Kant's parents George and his wife had nine children, and Immanuel Kant ranked fourth. Of the nine children, except Kant, only one elder sister, two younger sisters and one younger brother lived to adulthood. Why is Kant called Emanuel Kant? Immanuel is Immanuel Day in Prussia, which also happens to be Kant's birthday, so his name is Immanuel Kant.
Kant's family environment can be said to be very poor, but his mother has a profound influence on him. Kant himself said that my mother planted the first seed of goodness for me, which turned my mind to nature, awakened and expanded my intelligence, and her teaching had a great influence on my life. This is a very interesting memory. Nowadays, many mothers are quite anxious about the cultivation of their children. They can't wait to spend all their money on making their children go to a better school, but they ignore the cultivation of their children's character. Kant's mother's influence on Kant is obviously moral, not intellectual.
The road to study and work
Then Kant must learn from others to become a great philosopher. According to biographical materials, Kant's first teacher was Franz Albert Schultz, who was a priest. He established a good relationship with Schultz, and then entered Frederic College with Schultz as the principal to receive training in ancient Chinese such as Latin. I didn't enter the University of Konigsberg until 1740. When he was in college, his main subject was theology, but he soon became interested in natural science at school and studied philosophy and mathematics. At the same time, he studied the theories of Leibniz and Newton through the work of Knutzen, a metaphysics professor.
However, because Kant's parents died one after another, he lost the financial support to continue his studies in the university, so Kant had to interrupt his studies and go out to make a living. Kant had to go out to work because of his poor family before he finished his studies. I believe that many people certainly have some gaps in their study, but if you go out to work and don't study, your intelligence and ability to cope with academic problems will decline.
So how to solve the contradiction between the enthusiasm and maintenance of academic research and the lack of economic resources? Kant's solution was to be a private teacher, so that he could keep his enthusiasm for learning and earn money, which was also the living habit of poor college students in Germany at that time. If he had known that there was a platform for examining ideals, he might have contacted Mr. Liang Wendao to talk about his philosophy.
This is also the only time that Kant left his hometown in his life. His private teacher work is mainly in a place called Jodechen, but it is not too far from his hometown of Konigsberg. Jodexing can be said to be a place where German culture and Lithuanian culture blend with each other, and there is a lack of talents who can speak knowledge in German. Kant also picked up the leak and became the teacher of the three sons of Pastor Anders here.
1750, Kant came to the landlord's house in Ostrod to teach. His youngest student was George Frederick, who later liberated serfs, and then he went to the home of Count Catherine as a tutor, which was his third teaching post. Kant's teaching activities in rural areas not only gained rich teaching experience, but also enriched his life experience, which laid the foundation for his future academic activities. The money earned during this period can not only allow him to pay the rent for two rooms in Koenigsberg, but also hire a servant to take care of his daily life and let him study with peace of mind. By the way, Kant seems to be a lecherous, so he basically hired a footman, and he doesn't seem to have a girlfriend either.
Philosophers who do not like geography are not good academicians.
What qualities should a person have to become a master like Kant? He wants to be a generalist. The more he knows, the more fields he contacts, and the bigger his brain hole will be. The first important work published by Kant was not a philosophical work, but an astronomical work entitled "General History of Nature and Theory of Celestial Bodies".
In this book, he put forward the so-called Kant Laplace hypothesis, that is, the nebula hypothesis about the origin of the solar system, which has a high position in the history of astronomy. 1755, Kant returned to the university of konigsberg and submitted a paper on fire written in Latin, thus obtaining the qualification of degree defense. Then he got the so-called master's degree, which is equivalent to today's doctor's degree, but Kant still didn't get a teaching position in the university.
In order to get a teaching post in the university, Kant submitted a Latin paper, which expounded the basic principles of metaphysical epistemology, and then passed the defense. Since then, Kant has become a private teacher outside the establishment, which is a long-standing temporary establishment of teachers in Germany. In other words, when a young teacher is in class, his salary is not paid by the school, but by students who are willing to choose courses. As long as he is eloquent and listens a lot, his economic problems will not be great. Schopenhauer did this business later, but it was not very popular in college because there were fewer students listening.
But Kant still hopes to be promoted to professor. 1756 in April, Kant wrote to the king of Prussia, hoping to fill the vacancy of professor at the University of Konigsberg. However, due to some institutional reasons, Kant did not get the position he wanted. As a young teacher at that time, Kant's teaching work was very heavy. Besides philosophy, he also teaches physical geography, mathematics, mechanics, engineering, ethics, natural science, physics and rhetoric. It can be seen that the University of Konigsberg has squeezed Kant's manpower to an outrageous degree.
Interestingly, Kant himself even likes physical geography very much. He teaches geography as his main subject independently. It is a great irony that Kant himself has hardly left Konigsberg. A person who hardly leaves his hometown is obsessed with geography. Later, the Petersburg Academy of Sciences elected Kant as an academician, not based on Kant's philosophical achievements, but on his geographical achievements. This actually tells us that reading thousands of books is more important than reading Wan Li Road and thousands of books. If you really study thousands of books, you don't have to take the Wan Li Road, but you can also become a geographer in your hometown like Kant.
The only war related to Kant in his life was the Seven Years' War. This is a big scuffle in which all European countries participate. 1758 1 year, his east Prussia was occupied by Russian troops, which made Kant a little embarrassed. Kant himself was originally a Prussian citizen, and now he must be loyal to czar Elizabeth Petrovsky, and the university was taken over by the Russians.
Kant thought of the experience that he asked the king of Prussia to be promoted to professor but was rejected, so he wanted to apply to the female czar for a professorship, but he failed. Kant is not a man who is very sensitive to the differences between countries. His view is that there is only one family in the world. Whoever gives me the position of professor is a good king or a good queen. 1762 after the seven-year war, konigsberg returned to Prussia, but the political atmosphere at that time was really tolerant. Although it is known that Kant wrote a letter asking the female czar to give him the position of professor, no one sued Kant for it.
But after that, Kant did enter the academic peak, and he completed the most important philosophical work "Three Criticism". The first kind of criticism is purely rational criticism. The second kind of criticism is the so-called practical rational criticism. The third kind of criticism is judgment criticism. They correspond to epistemology, moral philosophy and aesthetics in philosophical research respectively.
1770, Kant, who wanted to be a professor and was crazy, was finally appointed as a professor of logic and metaphysics. 1786, he finally became the president of the university of konigsberg. That is to say, Kant entered the University of Konigsberg in 1740, and in 1786, he became the president of this university. He struggled for 46 years to wait for this day.
The secret of keeping healthy is to be as regular as a clock.
1804 On February 22nd, Kant died of physical failure. He is also a very long-lived philosopher, living about 80 years. Speaking of Kant's life span, we can't help but talk about Kant's way of keeping in good health. Kant's life is very regular He comes for a walk at 3: 30 every afternoon because he comes for a walk at 3: 30 every day. The local residents set their watches by the speed at which he walked. The only exception is that he was so fascinated by Rousseau's Emile that he missed the time for a walk.
Although Kant was weak, he lived to be 80 years old because of his regular life. As can be seen from some biographical materials, Kant eats lunch well in three meals a day, and in order to stop thinking about philosophical problems at lunch, so as not to affect the absorption of nutrients by the stomach, he usually invites some celebrities to have dinner with him at lunch. Moreover, he also has strict requirements on speech. Never talk about philosophy, because it will affect his rest.
This reminds me of Einstein. Generally speaking, Einstein doesn't like to discuss physics with ordinary people, because he thinks that if he discusses physics all day, his brain power will be insufficient when he really needs to discuss physics. At the same time, because Kant is not good at womanizing and has no girlfriend, he has less troubles in this respect and can spend more energy on academic research.
The main content of Kant plate
Well, I want to say so much about Kant's life. Did you feel a little bored after listening to it? Everyone thinks, I don't want to be such a person. It is so boring. Although I am a university professor, I think his life is a bit too boring. But his philosophy is groundbreaking.
Then let's talk about the content of Kant's enlightenment philosophy that we are going to expand in this section. First of all, I have finished my opening remarks today, so what is the essence of Kant's enlightenment thought, especially the thinking method of transcendental argument? What do they have to do with our thinking and argumentation methods and our daily life? So what am I going to discuss? I will discuss how Kant deals with skepticism.
Skepticism is a big problem in the history of western philosophy, and it also interferes with the stability of our daily life. Kant thinks skepticism is reasonable, but at the same time he also thinks that the daily world we ordinary people face is realistic. How did he make up this story? Let's talk about God first. Because the concept of God, in some experienced philosophers, such as anselmo, and in some modern philosophers, such as Descartes, is the guarantee of the reality of the daily world. Why is the world we see and touch real? Because it is God who guarantees that they are true, God can also guarantee many moral principles.
But Kant did a very surprising thing to God. On the one hand, he thinks that there is no basis for us to say that God really exists. But he still admits that God is the guarantee of our moral life. What's this called? It's called playing tricks. But how can you pretend to have God and be pious to him? This is one aspect of Kant's philosophy of life that I want to talk about.
Speaking of God's guarantee of moral life, what are the basic norms of moral life? This is the next content. This is Kant's absolute command, which means that he will restrain our colorful life with universal and abstract moral laws. Some people say that this is ok? Listen to how Kant summed up this story.
Having said the moral imperative, we have the following question, that is to say, in Kant's view, our description of nature conforms to the law of cause and effect, but besides our nature, there is another area that we can't forget, that is, the pretended God. Please pay attention to the world formed by the moral rules noticed by the pretended God, which is Kant's free world. Here are two skins, one about nature and the other about freedom. How do they form a skin with each other? This depends on the judgment mechanism mentioned by Kant in Critique of Judgment.
What does this discussion mean to our lives? We often meet two kinds of people in the world now, one is a science person and the other is a liberal arts person. Science people talk about scientific laws, while liberal arts people talk about abstract moral and value principles, so these two groups simply can't get along. But Kant just wants to connect these two aspects. Let's see how he bridged the bridge and see if his bridging scheme can help solve the problems in our daily life.
We have already talked about the issue of judgment, and it will also be extended to the issue of aesthetics. Why? Because judgment itself is such an aesthetic direction. Aesthetic disputes also play a great role in our daily life. For example, if the couple want to decorate, they may quarrel if they have different aesthetics. So what is the essence of beauty? Is it purely subjective or objective? What should Kant think of this problem? This involves his transcendental synaesthesia theory.
Then when it comes to transcendental synaesthesia, we will talk about another important concept of Kant's aesthetics, which is also very useful for our daily life. This is called aimlessness. What does this mean? In other words, if you want to make something beautiful, you can't make it very melodramatic, but let it naturally show beauty. But how to do this? Listen to my exposition of Kant's aesthetic principles this time.
After talking about aimlessness and purposefulness, I will also talk about Kant's ideal of peace. Because Kant has a very important concept called permanent peace. Unlike Machiavelli, who is full of the art of war, Kant's ideal is that the people of the world will live in harmony for thousands of years in the future. But is this idea too empty and beautiful? Or conversely, if we don't regard peace as the ultimate expectation for the future, where can the meaning of our individual life stay? Machiavelli or Kant, who can represent the truth better? This is what I want to cover in this part. After completing these contents, this part will summarize the advantages and disadvantages of Kant's philosophy at the end, and pave the way for the turn of Hegel's philosophy of life.
Well, today is the opening words of Kant's plate. Next time we will discuss Kant's enlightenment thought and his transcendental argumentation method. Thank you. I'm Xu. See you next time.