BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

31
If one looks for the cause of impediments, which keep human nature
in such a deep abasement, it will be found in the crudeness of matter
into which his spiritual [geistiger] part is sunk, in the unbending of
the fibers, and in the sluggishness and immobility of fluids that should
obey its stirrings. The nerves and fluids of his brain deliver to him
only gross and unclear concepts … 50
He thinks this also explains why old age normally leads to a decline in
cognitive functioning.
Because of this dependence, the spiritual [geistigen] faculties
disappear together with the vigor of the body: when owing to the
slackened flow of fluids advanced age cooks only thick fluid in the
body, when the suppleness of the fibers and the nimbleness in all
motions decrease, then the forces of the spirit too stiffen into a similar
dullness. The agility of thought, the clarity of representation, the
vivacity of wit, and the ability to remember lose their strength and
grow frigid. 51
As part of the discussion of mind and body, Kant also discusses whether
our immortal souls are reborn on other planets. 52 Even if the term
‘immortal soul’ may seem to signal an ontological position on his behalf,
it is worth noting that his remarks are here characterized by an explicit
agnosticism. Despite what our senses and consciousness tell us, he argues,
we do not really know what a human being is. And we know even less
about the afterlife:
It is not really known to us what man really is today, however selfawareness
and reason [Bewußtsein und die Sinne] should instruct us
on this point; how much more may we err as to what he is to become
eventually! Still the human soul’s thirst for knowledge reaches out
eagerly after these topics so distant from here and strives to find some
light in such a dark [field of] knowledge. 53
The idea that the mind is perhaps reborn on other planets is nothing but
a fantasy, Kant concludes. When the discussion turns to more earthly
matters, however, and he considers how body and mind are related in a
50
Ak I: 356.
51
Ak I: 357.
52
Ak I: 367.
53
Ak I: 366.
THE EMBODIED MIND