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Who Was Kant, and What Is Enlightenment?
Description
What does it mean to think for yourself? In the opening episode of our Kant series, Samuel Woodall and Jack Thomson explore the life of Immanuel Kant and the challenge at the heart of his question: What is Enlightenment?
From his upbringing in Königsberg to his appointment as professor of logic and metaphysics, we follow Kant into the debates about science, sensation and reason that shaped his philosophy. We discuss the ambition of the Critique of Pure Reason, his call to dare to know, and the tension between intellectual freedom and the limits of human understanding.
Along the way: Descartes, Leibniz, Kant’s famously regular habits, his sociable lunches, and the question of whether knowledge alone can express human dignity.
This is the first of three conversations on Kant. Next time, we turn more closely to the Critique of Pure Reason.
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