Natureza humana
ISSN 1517-2430
HAHN, Alexandre. Rational Psychology and Empirical Anthropology in Kant. Nat. hum. []. 2019, 21, 2, pp.53-76. ISSN 1517-2430.
This paper aims to highlight the relevance of the "Paralogisms of pure reason" for the Kantian project of an empirical systematically designed anthropology, that is, a science of man. Particularly, I will argue that the main result of Kant's criticism of rational psychology (as a doctrine of soul) was to ensure the logical possibility of the "noumenal self". That has turned possible to conceive the man as a free acting being, capable of making something of himself, and not just as a product of nature. This idea of man is fundamental to the Kantian anthropology since it orders and directs the empirically acquired knowledge, giving it systematic unity.
: rational psychology; noumenal self; idea of man; empirical anthropology.