Anthropology from a Kantian Point of View

Ernst Cassirer, Hannah Arendt, and the twentieth century revival of philosophical anthropology

“…24 Distinguishing an anthropomorphic philosophical anthropology from a 'metaphysics of morals', an a priori ethics applicable to all rational creatures, Kant writes in a 1773 letter to Herz that philosophical anthropology is more concerned with human phenomena and their laws than the possibility of modifying human nature in general. 25 Kant's lectures on anthropology, intended to be 'entertaining and never dry', display a humanist interest in rhetorical versatility and inventiveness (the desire to furnish the engaged listener with a 'copia' of argumentative tropes and illustrative examples adaptable to a variety of discursive situations). Sounding distinctly like a humanistic critic of scholastic pedantry, Kant criticizes the rival physiological anthropology of Ernst Platner for producing a 'science for the school' which is of 'no utility to the human being' and from which 'one could not obtain any enlightenment for common life'.…”

“…Sounding distinctly like a humanistic critic of scholastic pedantry, Kant criticizes the rival physiological anthropology of Ernst Platner for producing a 'science for the school' which is of 'no utility to the human being' and from which 'one could not obtain any enlightenment for common life'. 26 Kant argues by way of contrast that his pragmatic anthropology is a propaedeutic for prudent conduct, a 'preliminary exercise for students' that offers a 'very pleasant empirical study [Beobachtunglehre] of skill, prudence, and even wisdom that, along with physical geography and distinct from all other instruction, can be called knowledge of the world [Kenntnis der Welt]'. 27 As Foucault argues of Kant's anthropology, it is in close kinship with Goethe's recently published Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-96) for 'here, too, we find the World is a School'.…”

“…26 Kant argues by way of contrast that his pragmatic anthropology is a propaedeutic for prudent conduct, a 'preliminary exercise for students' that offers a 'very pleasant empirical study [Beobachtunglehre] of skill, prudence, and even wisdom that, along with physical geography and distinct from all other instruction, can be called knowledge of the world [Kenntnis der Welt]'. 27 As Foucault argues of Kant's anthropology, it is in close kinship with Goethe's recently published Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-96) for 'here, too, we find the World is a School'. 28 Kant's pragmatic philosophical anthropology, succinctly described by Louden as a 'doctrine of prudence', restores the importance of the virtue of phronesis famously articulated in the sixth book of Aristotle's Ethics.…”

“…28 Kant's pragmatic philosophical anthropology, succinctly described by Louden as a 'doctrine of prudence', restores the importance of the virtue of phronesis famously articulated in the sixth book of Aristotle's Ethics. 29 In the preface to his Anthropology Kant espouses Aristotle's analytical distinction between prudence and theoretical or applied knowledge. For Aristotle, prudence is a form of resourceful deliberation concerned with variable human particulars, that is, our conduct in particular circumstances.…”

“…As Louden argues, 'Kant explicitly links his use of the term pragmatic to a cosmopolitan conception of human nature, a conception that is not tied to time and place'. 32 According to Kant, local knowledge of the world is necessarily parochial and fails the test of prudent deliberation; it 'gives no rules to a person to act in common life'. It is only general or what Kant terms 'cosmological' knowledge of the world that 'forms a man of the world [bildet einen Weltmann]'.…”