Kant: A Very Short Introduction

This review is of the Oxford Past Masters edition by Scruton published in 1982. The Very Short version appears to be a recycling of the earlier one without significant revisions, as far as I can tell; just the addition of a few illustrations, some bibliographic updates and perhaps other minor tweaks.

Scruton has a gift for distilling difficult matter down to its essence with minimal dumbing down; for concisely explaining things with clarity and precision; and for organizing his text into a structure that flows logically and makes connections among ideas. Arguably the prime candidate for this treatment among philosophers is the famously opaque and often obscure Kant, and Scruton does a superb job in this small but dense synopsis.

The show more principal focus is on the Critique of Pure Reason but he also deals with the Critiques of Practical Reason and of Judgment, while touching on the Foundations of the Metaphysic of Morals and on Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (with other texts no doubt in the background). We start with the possibility of objective knowledge. Kant reacted against Leibniz, Descartes and Hume, identifying problems with each while more or less synthesizing what wasn’t problematic to develop his doctrine of (qualified) objective knowledge.

Of course that’s ridiculously oversimplified; what Kant did was quite subtle, nuanced and fascinating. From this foundation Scruton describes Kant’s metaphysics, moral philosophy and aesthetics. He largely skips over the second half of the Critique of Judgment, which deals with theology, as he considers it fairly weak.

Scruton says he presupposes the least possible knowledge of philosophy but that Kant’s thought is inherently very difficult, so the reader shouldn’t be surprised if he has to read the book more than once. I read it slowly and need to read it again. But I can’t imagine anyone doing a better job with Kant in 94 small pages. I hope to take Scruton up on a couple recommended readings and then take another stab at the first Critique. show less

Scruton se segura e não tergiversa a falar da beleza da mulher, só mencionando "malditos comunistas" duas vezes, de modo que considerei uma boa introdução à Kant, ouvindo assim em audiolivro, da crítica da razão pura e as condições de possibilidade para o conhecimento, pela razão prática e a reaproximação à religião pouco convincente, até a filosofia moral e política, com seus importantes avanços (consolidação da separação de poderes, união dos países, a universalidade do conceito de pessoa e suas implicações jurídicas, a ligação entre direito natural e dever moral), à estética e o jogo da imaginação a apreender mas não necessariamente por conceitos, com ideias problemáticas mas fecundas em torno do show more belo e do sublime. Dito isso, é claro que Kant merece muito mais que um livrinho. Mas é que ele também merece um livrinho. Terminei hoje no ônibus vindo pra casa. show less

Good intro but you have to concentrate. It's demanding.

I like his concept of Enlightenment( to quote from http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html ) "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance.

"Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large part of mankind gladly remain minors all their lives, long after nature has freed them from external guidance. It is so comfortable to be a minor. If I have a book that thinks for me, a pastor who acts as my show more conscience, a physician who prescribes my diet, and so on--then I have no need to exert myself. I have no need to think, if only I can pay; others will take care of that disagreeable business for me. Basically, put your big boy pants on and think like an adult."

I also like his idea of cosmopolitanism.

Otherwise I think Kant is messed up. But, he was a pre-Darwinian thinker and did the best he could. Unfortunately, a lot of modern day thinkers think like pre-Darwinian thinkers. show less

I found this a tough read, even though it is designed to be easy to understand.

I think I sort of understood most of it, but how much I will coherently remember or could explain to anybody else is another matter.

Subway reading size - covers many of the basics

12/7/21