Understanding the Historical and Philosophical Context of Kant
Historical Framework Kant was born in 1724 and died in 1804. He lived, therefore, during the eighteenth century, the so-called Enlightenment. The absolute monarchy was the most widespread and common system in Europe. As the century progressed, this absolutism was increasingly questioned, particularly the idea of justification of the monarch’s divine power on which it was based. The monarchs tried to carry out reforms based on enlightened principles to improve the living conditions of citizens, but without losing their power or allowing effective participation in political life. This was to act as the famous slogan of enlightened despotism: “All for the people, but without the people.” Catherine of Russia, Carlos III in Spain, and Joseph II in Austria are prototypes of absolute monarchs. The inadequacy of these reforms became clear in the final decades of the century, where the discomfort of the bourgeoisie and the working classes (peasants and workers) led to events like the French Revolution (1789), which began with the collapse of structures called the Old Regime. In Prussia, the land of Kant, various monarchs sought to create a strong, centralized, and austere state. The Prussian army became more professional and efficient than the French. The figure of Frederick II, who reigned from 1740 to 1786, enthusiastically embraced enlightened ideas, modernized state structures, focused on the education of citizens, and promoted culture in all areas. Historical Framework The eighteenth century was characterized by the maintenance of economic and social policies that would suffer progressive deterioration, culminating in the great revolutionary events of the century (American and French Revolutions). Eighteenth-century society was divided into “states,” defined by heredity and social status: nobility, clergy, and commoners. The bourgeoisie, through trade and urban industry, increased its economic power and began to claim political ownership, demanding that the Old Regime be taken into account. By mid-century, European society experienced a significant population increase, related to the relative improvement in living conditions. This was due in large part to the introduction of new agricultural and industrial techniques and the early development of industry in cities, which, in any case, still came down to small workshops, except in England, where there were larger factories. Important was also the development of trade, mainly overseas. The slave trade was a significant part of English and French commerce. Nevertheless, as a result of the continued and long wars, the economy of most European countries remained at low levels. The bourgeoisie had created a new vision of man: universal, rational, and cosmopolitan.
Philosophical Framework Throughout the eighteenth century, a common culture deeply rooted in the European intellectual elite emerged, produced by the shared belief in a set of values that has passed into history with the name of Enlightenment. The men of the eighteenth century were convinced they were living in a new era, after a long period of barbarism and ignorance. The spirit of enlightenment had its origins in the scientific and intellectual revolutions of the last century. Locke, Newton, Descartes, and Bacon are authors who, in one way or another, influenced this picture. The Cartesian approach extracted a taste for independent reasoning and dogma; Newton introduced a methodological approach based on observation and experimentation; Locke defended empiricism, analysis, and critique of metaphysical thought, and claimed tolerance and freedom as fundamental ethical and political elements. The Enlightenment was, therefore, the expression of a new era and the ideology of a very specific social group: the bourgeoisie, seeking political and social change that must be the result of a spiritual revolution earlier. Education was the key factor to achieve it. The enlightened shared a thought dominated by the idea of progress, viewed from a modern perspective, showing high doses of optimism. They were convinced that the development of reason in the sciences of nature and spirit would ultimately remove from the history of mankind phenomena such as ignorance, superstition, bigotry, religious intolerance, and political oppression. Yet, the Enlightenment was not uniform or homogeneous in Europe, but exhibited country-specific features. In Britain, a critical note was the struggle against religious intolerance initiated by Locke and the search for a new experimental method, following Newton’s work. In France, the Enlightenment had a more political and social dimension, emphasizing the work of the Encyclopedists. In Germany, it arrived with some delay, inspired by France and based on rational principles rather than empiricism. The figure of Kant, who, despite being a strong advocate of Enlightenment values, was responsible for setting limits to optimism through his critical philosophy. Lessing and Schiller were other prominent authors in the German Enlightenment. It was not merely a theoretical movement; its ideals were reflected in important political and legal documents of the time, such as the Virginia Bill of Rights, made days before the declaration of independence from the U.S., and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which emerged from the Paris revolution of 1789. Ultimately, the Enlightenment opted for critical thinking based solely on reason, placing it at the historical process of liberation and emancipation of humanity. No wonder that the philosophy of the time returned to traditional metaphysical questions (empiricism) or approached them in a radically new way (Kant).