Kant: nature and (un)freedom

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a systematic and prolific philosopher. One way to look at his intellectual trajectory is as follows: most of his early writings revolved around the philosophy of nature broadly construed; he then developed a groundbreaking philosophy of mind partly to address difficult philosophical questions raised by studies of nature (for example, how should we understand the supposed necessity of the laws of nature?); this was followed by a moral philosophy for which he is best known today and in which he sought to establish the possibility for humans to be free vis-à-vis nature; during his final years, he turned to political philosophy to outline a crucial precondition of moral freedom, namely, a law-governed civil state that secures individuals’ external freedom in relation to each other. We will study Kant along this trajectory. In doing so, we will keep in mind that Kant’s philosophy unfolded against the backdrop of colonialism and Atlantic slavery and that, against this backdrop, he developed a self-consciously groundbreaking theory of race, portrayed Blacks as natural slaves, and remained silent about the injustice of Atlantic slavery even as he articulated an elaborate Doctrine of Right. We will use these facts to reflect on our relationship not only to past philosophical giants like Kant but also to history itself.