Immanuel Kant - Anthropology

Immanuel Kant - Anthropology book summary

Immanuel Kant gave a series of lectures on anthropology 1772-1773, 1795-1796 at the University of Königsberg, which was founded in 1544. His lectures dealt with recognizing the internal and external in man, cognition, sensuousness, the five senses, as well as the soul and the mind. They were gathered together and published in 1798 and then published in English in The Journal of Speculative Philosophy in 1867, volumes 9-16. Therefore, several texts will be used for this book. I was able to find sections 1-37 and then section 43, and sections 47-57. It seems that sections 38-42, 44-46 are not available. This is book one of his longer works.

My favorite quotes
If someone has purposely caused a disaster, and it is questionable whether he is at all, or in what degree he is to be, blamed for it, and whether or not he was insane at the time of the commission of the deed, the court should not refer him to the medical facility – the court itself being incompetent to decide upon such a case – but to the philosophical faculty. On this ground the question whether the accused was in the possession of all the faculties of his understanding and judgment, is altogether of a psychological nature….

Helmont says, that, after having taken a certain dose of “napell” – a poisonous root, he felt as if he thought in his stomach. Many people have experimented with opium to such an extent that they finally felt their minds weaken when they neglected to use this stimulant of their brain.

(Summary by Craig Campbell)

Links to texts:
Sections 1-2
Sections 3-4
Sections 5-7
Section 8
Sections 9-10
Sections 11-13
Sections 14-15
Sections 16-19
Section 20
Sections 21-22
Sections 23-26

Anthropology listen online for free