Kant was one of the inventors of anthropology, and his lectures on anthropology were the most popular and among the most frequently given of his lecture courses. This volume contains the first translation of selections from student transcriptions of the lectures between 1772 and 1789, prior to the published version, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798), which Kant edited himself at the end of his teaching career. The two most extensive texts, Anthropology Friedlander (1772) and Anthropology Mrongovius (1786), are presented here in their entirety, along with selections from all the other lecture transcriptions published in the Academy edition, together with sizeable portions of the Menschenkunde (1781-1782), first published in 1831. These lectures show that Kant had a coherent and well-developed empirical theory of human nature bearing on many other aspects of his philosophy, including cognition, moral psychology, politics and philosophy of history.

Anthropology, History, and Education, first published in 2007, contains all of Kant's major writings on human nature. Some of these works, which were published over a thirty-nine year period between 1764 and 1803, had never before been translated into English. Kant's question 'What is the human being?' is approached indirectly in his famous works on metaphysics, epistemology, moral and legal philosophy, aesthetics and the philosophy of religion, but it is approached directly in his extensive but less well-known writings on physical and cultural anthropology, the philosophy of history, and education which are gathered in the present volume. Kant repeatedly claimed that the question 'What is the human being?' should be philosophy's most fundamental concern, and Anthropology, History, and Education can be seen as effectively presenting his philosophy as a whole in a popular guise.

Présentation de l'éditeur
" Les rapports de la pensée critique et de la réflexion anthropologique seront étudiés dans un ouvrage ultérieur ". C'est sur cette phrase que s'achevait la brève "Notice historique " que Michel Foucault avait placé en tête de l'édition de sa traduction de l'Anthropologie de Kant (Vrin, 1964). La note annonçait sans aucun doute l'ouvrage à venir, d'abord caractérisé, dès 1963, comme " le livre sur les signes ", et qui paraîtra en avril 1966 : Les mots et les choses, une archéologie des sciences humaines. En réalité, la courte notice historique, de trois pages, en ouverture de la traduction du texte de Kant ne proposait qu'un extrait fort réduit de ce qui avait constitué l'élément principal de la Thèse complémentaire soutenue en Sorbonne le 20 mai 1961: Introduction à l'anthropologie de Kant, et dont Jean Hyppolite était le rapporteur. Si la thèse complémentaire, intitulée Genèse et structure de l'anthropologie de Kant, était restée inédite (à l'exception de la traduction de Kant), ce n'est pas que Foucault en eût été insatisfait: suivant les conseils des membres du jury, il allait bientôt, dès l'automne 1963, en faire le matériau central de son grand livre à venir. D'où l'intérêt considérable de la présente édition qui donne pour la première fois l'Introduction complète, Genèse et structure de l'anthropologie de Kant, et qui permet ainsi au lecteur d'entrer dans l'atelier d'un penseur dont l'œuvre entière aura été nourri par un débat critique avec Kant: qu'est-ce que l'homme ?

Immanuel Kant’s views on politics, peace, and history have lost none of their relevance since their publication more than two centuries ago. This volume contains a comprehensive collection of Kant’s writings on international relations theory and political philosophy, superbly translated and accompanied by stimulating essays.

Pauline Kleingeld provides a lucid introduction to the main themes of the volume, and three essays by distinguished contributors follow: Jeremy Waldron on Kant’s theory of the state; Michael W. Doyle on the implications of Kant’s political theory for his theory of international relations; and Allen W. Wood on Kant’s philosophical approach to history and its current relevance.

Bibliographical references included in "Translator's notes" (p. [117]-124)
Published with variations in 1957 in microfilm form as the translator's thesis, Northwestern University, under title: Kant's pre-critical esthetic.