Basic Writings of Kant (Modern Library Classics)

Introduction by Allen W. Wood
With translations by F. Max Müller and Thomas K. Abbott

The writings of Immanuel Kant became the cornerstone of all subsequent philosophical inquiry. They articulate the relationship between the human mind and all that it encounters and remain the most important influence on our concept of knowledge. As renowned Kant scholar Allen W. Wood writes in his Introduction, Kant “virtually laid the foundation for the way people in the last two centuries have confronted such widely differing subjects as the experience of beauty and the meaning of human history.” Edited and compiled by Dr. Wood, Basic Writings of Kant stands as a comprehensive summary of Kant’s contributions to modern thought, and gathers together the most respected translations of Kant’s key moral and political writings.

Customer Reviews:

An Easy to Read Selection of Kant Writings

By K.H. - May 6, 2004

My review is more by accident then intentional logging on to write a review. While surfing around, I stumbled here to check out a couple of reviews and noticed some with astonishing errors; either due to a lack of writing a detailed review or just not understanding Kant's ideas. The problem may also lie in that anthologies don't carry the full selection of a person's arguments (although with one reviewer it is just an obvious case of silly ignorant ramblings)Wood's book is readable and it is true that Kant is never an easy read, but neither are most Prussian Philosophers of the same era.Whatever Kant's metaphysical faults are, he is not a relativist, but tried, although many have asserted unsuccessfully, to construct an objective moral framework on reason alone (although Kant did believe in God and asserted that the Christian religion was the closet to a true objective construct; however, that is precisely the problem of anthologies, because all they do is give one a snap shot... read more

Kant the philosophical revolutionary

By Glen Peters - July 2, 2006

This is an excellent survey of Kant's groundbreaking constributions to epistemology and moral philosophy. I would, however, support Karl Popper's observation that the best way to understand the transcendental idealism of Kant is to first study Schopenhauer. An ideal introduction to Schopenhauer (and Kant) is Bryan Magee's 'The Philosophy of Schopenhauer'. Then read Schopenhauer's 'On the Fourfold Root of Principle of Sufficient Reason', and then his 'The World as Will and Representation'. Schopenhauer is a peerless prose stylist and conceptual architect and he explains the philosophy of Kant (and it's limitations) better than Kant does himself. Once you have familiarised yourself with Schopenhauer, Kant's comparatively opaque and desultory prose (with occasional flashes of brilliance) is readily accessible. Kant's staggering intellectual achievement in moving beyond the apparent epistemological dead end of Hume is sufficient motivation for making the effort to read the Critique of... read more

An effective compilation, with all of the essays necessary for a basic understanding of Kant.

By Christopher A. Craig-comin "brilliantly avera... - February 27, 2006

With a thourough reading of this text, it is entirely possible to extract, not just the jist, but a fundamental understanding of the philosophy of Kant. Although it is true that no compilation of writings, which is forced to express the ideas of a philosopher such as Kant in a manageable way, can provide an understanding required for a masters or doctoral thesis, the Basic Writings of Kant is translated in such a way and contains the necessary essays for higher-level undergraduate understanding.

By examining the development of Kant's ideas throughout each essay, it is possible to understand the unity of metaphysical, empirical, and moral concepts in a digestable and useful way. Although one may see fault in Kant's philosophy regarding any of these facets, this text provides the means for an understanding of Kant's philosopy and solid ground by which to dispute his ideas.

One distinction, which might be useful in reading this text, is to note that the essay... read more