Reason and Reality. Concerning the Actuality of Kantian Philosophy

Abstract

Is Kantian thought still relevant at all in the 21st century? This is no mere rhetorical question almost 300 years after Kant's birth. To understand why Kant's philosophy is still interesting to us today, despite this great historical distance, we can point to specific insights that have shaped modern self-understanding: Kant's concept of moral autonomy, his concept of human dignity, the idea of a federal world peace order and his concept of Enlightenment. This paper will show that there are also some very general traits in Kant's thought that are worth remembering: first, the linking of critique of reason with trust in reason; second, the linking of anthropological realism and moral idealism in politics; and third, the mediation of individual pursuit of happiness and morality in Kant's ethics.