BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

RATIONALITY AND EMBODIED PRACTICE
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been influenced by other philosophers and scholars, such as Rousseau,
and the new pedagogical movement in Germany, represented, for
instance, by Basedow.
3.16 A short summary of the first part of the book
In this first part, I have examined some aspects of Kant’s intellectual
development as it finds its expression in some of his published works from
Living forces in 1747 up to near the end of his life. The account given
does not intend to be exhaustive but I have drawn attention to some
trends that I believe to be significant. Among these are Kant’s growing
empiricism and pragmatism, associated with his orientation towards the
new science of anthropology with its study of man as a unity of mind and
body. And even if he was influenced by a wide range of philosophers, I
have especially stressed the importance of Rousseau and his idea that
man learns to know and master the world only through embodied acts
and practices. All this led Kant to accord an increasing significance to
human behavior as a domain of human rationality, or so I claim. Not
only does he claim that a basic part of our concept-formation (i.e., the
part having to do with the concept of shape) originates in our capacity to
use our hands to grasp and hold objects but he also promotes the idea
that concepts exist originally as the rules according to which practices are
performed. As a result these practices are essential to human rationality.
I have underlined these aspects of Kant’s philosophy not only because
they deserve attention in themselves but also because they form the
context in which Kant’s critical philosophy developed. In the second part
I shall put forward my ideas on how this context influenced the
philosophical reflections of the Critique.