''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'' () is a 1929 book about

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

by the German

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

. It is often referred to by Heidegger as simply the ''Kantbuch'' (''Kantbook''). This book was published as volume 3 of the '' Gesamtausgabe''. The book is dedicated to the memory of

Max Scheler Max Ferdinand Scheler (; 22 August 1874 – 19 May 1928) was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology. Considered in his lifetime one of the most prominent German philosophers,Davis, Zacha ...

Background

During the 1920s Heidegger read

extensively. The Kantian influence is pervasive throughout Heidegger's most celebrated and influential book, ''

Being and Time ''Being and Time'' () is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controv ...

'' (1927). The Kantbook can be seen as a supplement for the unfinished second part of ''

''. Additionally, during the winter semester of 1927/28 Heidegger delivered a lecture course dealing explicitly with Kant's philosophy entitled ''Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason'' (volume 25 of the Gesamtausgabe). However, the main source for the Kantbook was Heidegger's encounter with

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( ; ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic ...

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

, in 1929. It is here Heidegger begins to develop his unique interpretation of Kant which places unprecedented emphasis on the schematism of the categories. Heidegger began writing ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'' immediately after Davos.

Reception

Cassirer, like most Kant scholars, rejected Heidegger's interpretation of Kant. According to Michael J. Inwood, Heidegger implicitly abandoned some of the views he expounded in ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'' in his subsequent work on Kant.

English translations

*Martin Heidegger, ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'', trans. by James S. Churchill (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962). *Martin Heidegger, ''Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'', trans. by Richard Taft, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990). Taft notes Churchill's translation "occasionally falls into awkward and misleading renderings of the original that make it hard to use today." The primary reason for this is that Churchill's translation is one of earliest translations of any of Heidegger's works into English, thus predating most of the now established conventions in Heidegger scholarship in the English speaking world.Heidegger (1997), p. xii

References

{{Authority control 1929 non-fiction books Books about Immanuel Kant Books by Martin Heidegger German non-fiction books Metaphysics books Ontology Phenomenology literature 1929 in philosophy