What is the Human Being?

Philosophers anthropologists and biologists have long puzzled over the question of human nature. It is also a question that Kant thought about deeply and returned to in many of his writings. In this lucid and wide-ranging introduction to Kantâs philosophy of human nature - which is essential for understanding his thought as a whole - Patrick R. Frierson assesses Kantâs theories and examines his critics. He begins by explaining how Kant articulates three ways of addressing the question âwhat is the human being?â: the transcendental the empirical and the pragmatic. He then considers some of the great theorists of human nature who wrestle with Kantâs views such as Hegel Marx Darwin Nietzsche and Freud; contemporary thinkers such as E. O. Wilson and Daniel Dennett who have sought biological explanations of human nature; Thomas Kuhn Michel Foucault and Clifford Geertz who emphasize the diversity of human beings in different times and places; and existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Heidegger. He argues that whilst these approaches challenge and enrich Kantâs views in significant ways all suffer from serious weaknesses that Kantâs anthropology can address. Taking a core insight of Kantâs - that human beings are fundamentally free but finite - he argues that it is the existentialists particularly Sartre who are the most direct heirs of his transcendental anthropology. The final part of the book is an extremely helpful overview of the work of contemporary philosophers particularly Christine Korsgaard and JÃrgen Habermas. Patrick R. Frierson explains how these philosophers engage with questions of naturalism historicism and existentialism while developing Kantian conceptions of the human being. Including chapter summaries and annotated further reading What is the Human Being? is an outstanding introduction to some fundamental aspects of Kantâs thought and a judicious assessment of leading theories of human nature. It is essential reading for all students of Kant and the philosophy of human nature as well as those in related disciplines such as anthropology politics and sociology. . Language: English