Immanuel Kant

This month will see the 205th death anniversary of Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher. I suspect most people are not bothered, but in recent years I have developed an interest in Kant's writings.

Kant wrote on a wide range of issues, including science, but his three Critiques essentially ask and answer three questions: what we can know, what we should do, and - among other things - how we can appreciate beauty. These questions are raised in the Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, and the Critique of Judgment. Kant had an extremely difficult to follow writing style, even by the standards of German philosophers. It is probably fair to say no one person understands everything he said.

The Critique of Pure Reason is probably the most well-known of the three Critiques and the most widely discussed in academic circles. It is folly to attempt to summarise it in a blog. Suffice it to say that in answer to the question what we can know, Kant gave prominence to the perspective of the knowing subject.

What I admire most about Kant's is his critical attitude. His best known essay, and probably one of the more readable pieces he wrote, is "What is englightenment?" In that, he states that the key to enlightenment, or knowledge and understanding unaided by assistance from authorities, is the urge to know. "Sapere aude", "dare to know" he says.

It is this attitude that is most needed in the Muslim world today and it is also the approach of Iqbal, to a greater extent than some of his most ardent admirers would admit or know. Indeed, Iqbal's Reconstruction of Religious Though in Islam is filled with references to German philopsphers, including Kant.