Kant: A Very Short Introduction [Kindle Edition]

General Review of Book Series: I have to admit it: I am a fan of these little books. It's my dirty little secret. These short introductions provide one with a pocketsize, portable introduction to a wide variety of topics. With a light tone and a surface skim of the issues, these little guides provide one with the general overview one might expect in a small survey course. Naturally, there are downsides. Are these guides comprehensive? Heavens no! Do they take time to dig deeply into the issues? Not generally. But are they a good resource to use if you want to get your feet wet before you dive in? Yes. When used properly, these little guidebooks can allow what might start out as a casual curiosity to develop into a more in-depth research project. In fact, all of these introductions provide references and suggestions for further reading.

Roger Scruton's _A Very Short Introduction to Kant_ tackles a job that most writers would completely shy away from: to try and produce a short, readable summary of Kant's life, work, and influence. He has succeeded marvelously, carefully explaining difficult features of Kant's philosophy while noting the disagreements that occur in the scholarly literature. I found this text to be extremely helpful, not only for someone who would be approaching Kant for the first time, but also particularly for a student of Kant's philosophy that desires to have a short work to help synthesize everything.

After rehearsing a short, but interesting, biography of Kant's life and works, Scruton begins examining the ways in which Kant's thought can be seen as responding to the work of Leibniz and Descartes, exploring the possibilities of knowledge and the question of whether reality consists in subjective appearances or objective existence. Kant's arguments for synthetic, a priori knowledge are rehearsed in this section and the transcendental deduction is thoroughly reviewed. The next section concerns Kant's morality and his famous categorical imperative. A section on Kant's aesthetics follows and, finally, a chapter on Kant's political philosophy ends the book.

While reading this introduction, the reader gains an appreciation for just how broad Kant's philosophical interests were and Scruton does a remarkable job at revealing how Kant's basic principles help configure the rest of Kant's thought (be it morality, aesthetics, or politics). The effect of this is that by the end of the work, the reader has had these principles driven home and can formulate Kant's thought from them. This work may be a tad above the grasp of a casual reader who is not dedicated to the task of understanding it, but anyone who has some knowledge of the subject (or is determined) will benefit from reading this introduction. I highly recommend it.

These books are kinda hit or miss. This one hits. Bullseye. Along with the chapter on Kant in Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy," this is most thorough-but-brief examination of Kant's Philosophy. I can't even fathom how he did it. Scruton takes care to be as clear as possible when deciphering Kant's original but highly technical idiolect. If you read this book carefully, and then approach Kant's highly involved philosophy: you will see the difference. But. You have to be in for the haul. You may need to reread passages. Kant's works, even when condensed like this, are still foreboding and require much focus and concentration. But he is worth it. Modern thought springs much from Kant's ideas: his influence, not only on 19th Century Philosophy, German Romanticism, and Religious philosophy is ineluctable. I was hooked from the second chapter, wherein Scruton places Kant in his context and illustrates the evolution of his thought. Leibniz's and Hume's influence is dealt with in a fantastic way- a consideration of both thinkers is necessary for a greater understanding.

I can't say enough good things. If anyone ever told me that a book of 135 pages of small print with good illustrations could deal effectively with a thinker of this magnitude and verbosity I'd laugh. And I'd have to eat that laughter. I'll say this, it makes Kant pleasurable. A pleasure to read and a greater pleasure to understand. I'd recommend this to anyone with any degree of interest in kant. As Scruton says in his preface, "Kant hope to draw the limits of human understanding; he found himself compelled to transcend them." Scruton's V.S.I. is an excellent testament to that vision.

There is no question that Scruton knows his Kant, and this book is a 5-star synopsis of Kant's major ideas, including some of the background and controversies surrounding them.

That said, I don't think it will succeed as a first introduction to Kant for most people. If you already know this material, or have known it sometime in the past and want to brush up, then this is the perfect book for you. If you are looking to learn about Kant's ideas for the first time, you are likely to find this book too compressed and telegraphic. I don't doubt that Scruton made a great effort, but it just may not be possible to introduce Kant in this number of pages. For a true introduction, I'd recommend Sebastian Gardner's guidebook in the Routledge series.