Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who lived from 1724 to 1804. He is regarded as one of the most important philosophers who ever lived. It is almost impossible to overstate the influence of his thought. All subsequent philosophical and indeed scientific thinking deals with him in some way; either consciously or unconsciously. So what is all the fuss about?

In episode 11 of Ideas Matter, Louis and Alex make their first foray into Kant’s philosophy. We begin, unsurprisingly, with his more “political” writings. Specifically, we discuss two seminal essays: “An Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose” and “What is Enlightenment?”.
In his Universal History essay, Kant suggests that history is the progressive development of humanity’s reason. In “What is Enlightenment?”, Kant argues that being enlightened is the capacity to think for oneself. History’s purpose, therefore, is the gradual enlightenment of the human race.

How might we achieve this enlightened state? Well, listening, sharing, and liking the Ideas Matter podcast is a good place to start!

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