Course Content (Syllabus)
Human nature is one of the most important problems of Kant’s philosophy and, especially, of his moral philosophy. In the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals human nature is underrated, is considered second and is subjected to practical reason. On the contrary, in the Metaphysics of Morals the philosopher considers human nature of first importance and shows the way in which it smooths the path towards morality and virtue. Consequently, it is an issue worth investigating how Kant conceives of human nature in his work. In the present postgraduate series of lectures, therefore, we examine in an analytic way Kant’s anthropology (otherwise called his Philosophical Psychology), we present the different cognitive, emotive and other psychological powers of man and we consider how all these are composed in this whole that is called “man”.