German philosopher of the very first rank, whose influence continues to be felt today on Western thought. His prolific work looked into subjects with multiple interests, which served as the basis of the courses he gave at the university of his hometown, Königsberg (then in Western Prussia, now known as Kalingrad, in Russia). His thinking thus ranged over physics, astronomy, the theory of knowledge (which endeavours to determine the span and the limits of our cognitive faculties), anthropology, political philosophy, the philosophy of law, metaphysics, aesthetics and morality.

The three main branches of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy corresponded to his most famous works. The Critique of Pure Reason, the plinth of his theoretical philosophy, strives to reply to the question, ‘What can I know?’, whilst the Critique of Practical Reason and the Metaphysics of Morals instead tackle the questions, ‘What must I do?’ and ‘What can I hope for?’ Finally, the Critique of Judgement is considered as a fundamental work of modern aesthetics.

Kant’s philosophy has exerted considerable influence on German idealism (Fichte, Schelling and Hegel), French spiritualism (Bergson), nineteenth century thought in general (Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzche), phenomenology and existentialism (Husserl, Jespers, Heidegger, Sartre, Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, Ricœur), contemporary political philosophy (Habermas, Arendt, Luc Ferry) and postmodern philosophy (Foucault, Deleuze). Tradition has it that at the moment of dying, his last words were ‘It is good’ (Es ist gut).