Kant, Immanuel

An eighteenth-century German philosopher; one of the leading philosophers of modern times. His views are called the Critical Philosophy, and his three best-known works are Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, and Critique of Judgment.

Kant was troubled because metaphysics had not arrived at acceptable answers on important concerns, particularly God (whether there is one), the soul (whether it lives on after death), and the world as a whole (whether people can act freely in the world, or whether its laws determine all their actions). He maintained that the first step in getting any answers in these areas was to investigate the limits of human understanding and reasoning; this investigation was what he called a critique.