This book introduces architects to a philosopher, Immanuel Kant, whose work was constantly informed by a concern for the world as an evolving whole. According to Kant, in this interconnected and dynamic world, humans should act as mutually dependent and responsible subjects. Given his future-oriented and ethico-politically concerned thinking, Kant is a thinker who clearly speaks to architects. This introduction demonstrates how his ideas bear pertinently and creatively upon the world in which we live now and for which we should care thoughtfully. Kant grounded his enlightened vision of philosophy’s mission using an architectural metaphor: of the modest 'dwelling-house'. Far from constructing speculative 'castles in the sky' or vertiginous 'towers which reach to the heavens', he tells us that his humble aim is rather to build a 'secure home for ourselves', one which appropriately corresponds at once to the limited material resources available on our planet, and to our need for firm and solid principles to live by. This book also explores Kant's notions of cosmopolitics, which attempts to think politics from a global perspective by taking into account the geographical fact that the earth is a sphere with limited land mass and natural resources. Given the urgent topicality of sustainable development, these Kantian texts are of particular interest for architects of today. Students of architecture, who are necessarily trained in negotiating between theory and practice, gain much from considering Kant, whose critical project also consisted of testing and exploring the viability of ideas, so as to ascertain to what extent, and crucially, how ideas can have a constructive effect on the whole world, and on us as active agents therein.

This book challenges popular international relations theories that claim to be based on the political writings of Immanuel Kant, and sheds new light on the philosopher's perspective on peace. Through an analysis of Kant's philosophical work and political traditions of his time, as well as of neglected concepts and theory, this book reappraises modern perspectives on his work. Kant advocated a cosmopolitan community building perspective of peace and international relations that considered issues that are now significant topics of debate such as state sovereignty and unequal access to resources. This book reveals how Kant's political views translate into a vision of international relations that cannot be associated with the democratic and neoliberal theories of peace which until now have claimed Kant's legacy. While the democratic peace theory continues to inspire policy-making, Kant's predictions on war and peace ultimately prove to be most appropriate for the current issues of globalization and diversity. Offering new insights into the meaning of peace and war in international relations, Kant and International Relations Theory is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of international relations and political theory, as well as for those interested in Kant's scholarship.

Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science is one of the most difficult but also most important of Kant's works. Published in 1786 between the first (1781) and second (1787) editions of the Critique of Pure Reason, the Metaphysical Foundations occupies a central place in the development of Kant's philosophy, but has so far attracted relatively little attention compared with other works of Kant's critical period. Michael Friedman's book develops a new and complete reading of this work and reconstructs Kant's main argument clearly and in great detail, explaining its relationship to both Newton's Principia and eighteenth-century scientific thinkers such as Euler and Lambert. By situating Kant's text relative to his pre-critical writings on metaphysics and natural philosophy and, in particular, to the changes Kant made in the second edition of the Critique, Friedman articulates a radically new perspective on the meaning and development of the critical philosophy as a whole.

Kant Trouble offers a highly original and incisive reading of some of the lesser known aspects of Kantian thought. Throughout Morgan challenges the widely held view of Kant as the exponent of concrete and rigid rationality and argues that his airtight 'architectonic' mode of reasoning overlooks certain topics which destabilise it. These include temporary forms of architecture, such as landscape gardening; examples which undermine the autonomy of the Kantian subject, for example, freemasonry; and the concept of radical evil, all of which suggest that Kant's thought was capable of accommodating troubling and subversive themes. Morgan's compelling discussion arrives at a fresh and ground breaking perspective on Kant whereby he is no longer to be regarded as a concrete rationalist, but as a daring thinker, not afraid to entertain ideas highly threatening to his own system and to the humanistic legacy of the enlightenment.

Many students coming to grips with Kant's philosophy are understandably daunted not only by the complexity and sheer difficulty of the man's writings, but almost equally by the amount of secondary literature available. A great deal of this seems to be - and not only on first reading - just about as difficult as the work it is meant to make more accessible. Any writer deliberately setting out to provide an authentically introductory text thus faces a double problem: how to provide an exegesis which would capture some of the spirit of the original, without gross and misleading over-simplification; and secondly, how to anchor the argument in the best and most imaginative secondary literature, yet avoid the whole project appearing so fragmented as to make the average book of chess openings seem positively austere. Until fairly recently, matters were made even more difficul t, in that commentaries on Kant were very often of a whole work, say, The Critique of Pure Reason, with the result that students would have to struggle through a very great deal of material indeed in order to feel any confidence at all that they had begun to understand the original writings. Recently, things have changed somewhat. There are now excellent commentaries on "Kant's Analytic", "Kant's Analogies" etc. . We have also seen, (at least as reflected in book titles), a resurgence of interest in what is perhaps the most controversial and far-reaching Kantian claim, viz.

While the philosophy of Immanuel Kant is not often analyzed in conjunction with the theory of architecture, there is a strong possibility Richard Neutra was consciously aware of Kant philosophy and might have utilized Kants ideas in his architectural design. This thesis mines Neutras various connections historically in terms of what he read as well as various connections with historical figures such as Adolf Loos in order to discover the ways in which their ideas have served as a secondary conduit between Kant and Neutra. It also analyzes heavily Richard Neutras original writings and reveals that the ideas of Neutra can be considered practical applications of Kants ideas. Immanuel Kant states that we first know the world through our senses, then through a mental system and finally judgements are made upon perception. In his writings, Richard Neutra coveys the same ideas that design needs to be based upon the senses, that the senses are not the end of perception, and that understanding of human psychology in necessary in order to design for humans. Kant lays out an extensive system detailing perception itself while validating science and establishing a base for psychology to emerge. Neutra's applied psychological approach to architecture bares resemblance to general Kantian ideas as well as more specific ideas. This thesis examines primary sources by Immanuel Kant and Richard Neutra. Secondary sources from authors such as David Leatherbarrow, Dietrich Neumann, and Tomas Hines are taken into consideration when interpreting historical events, built projects, and various theoretical ideas by Neutra. Other writings about Immanuel Kant and architecture are briefly mentioned as well. Looking at these secondary sources affirm the relevance and originality of this topic.

Offsetting a study of Kant's theory of cognition with a mixture of intellectual history and biography, Kant's Organicism offers readers an accessible portrait of Kant's scientific milieu in order to show that his standing interests in natural history and its questions regarding organic generation were critical for the development of his theoretical philosophy. By reading Kant's theoretical work in light of his connection to the life sciences?especially his reflections on the epigenetic theory of formation and genesis?Jennifer Mensch provides a new understanding of much that has been otherwise obscure or misunderstood in it. ?Epigenesis”?a term increasingly used in the late eighteenth century to describe an organic, nonmechanical view of nature's generative capacities?attracted Kant as a model for understanding the origin of reason itself. Mensch shows how this model allowed Kant to conceive of cognition as a self-generated event and thus to approach the history of human reason as if it were an organic species with a natural history of its own. She uncovers Kant's commitment to the model offered by epigenesis in his first major theoretical work, the Critique of Pure Reason, and demonstrates how it informed his concept of the organic, generative role given to the faculty of reason within his system as a whole. In doing so, she offers a fresh approach to Kant's famed first Critique and a new understanding of his epistemological theory.