Kant and the Human Sciences: Biology, Anthropology and History

Kant famously identified 'What is man?' as the fundamental question that encompasses the whole of philosophy. Yet surprisingly, there has been no concerted effort amongst Kant scholars to examine his actual philosophy of man. This book, which is inspired by and part of the recent movement focusing on the empirical dimension of Kant's works, is the first sustained attempt to extract from his writings on biology, anthropology and history an account of the human sciences, their underlying unity, their presuppositions as well as their methology. In exploring Kant's philosophical and epistemological foundation of the human sciences, it reveals an unexpected picture of a thinker who is profoundly attentive to the diversity, detail and complexity of the human world.