Anthropology as an Empirical Science
In the previous chapter I showed that Kant's theory of freedom implies an asymmetry according to which freedom is prior to nature. On one account, this means that the free self can influence but cannot be influenced by the empirical world. To interpret in another way, one might say that the empirical perspective on the self cannot play a fundamental role within the practical perspective, whereas the practical perspective is necessary in order to complete the empirical one. Whichever...
A Problem with Kants Moral Anthropology
1. Kant's Anthropology and Schleiermacher's Objection In 1798, Immanuel Kant published his Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View. In this work, he discusses what man makes, can, or should make of himself' 7 119 . The book offers detailed, even if incomplete, accounts of human capacities and character, and these accounts help flesh out Kant's Critical philosophy with empirical information about human beings. This 1798 Anthropology was not Kant's first foray into anthropology. Starting in...