German Philosopher
[1724-1804]
When discussing metaphysics as a subject, it is nearly impossible to avoid directly speaking of Kant or indirectly about one of the people he has influenced on the topic.
By his own admission, Kant was greatly influenced by writers like Hume and Leibniz, and Kant's greatest achievement was to combine the rationalism of Leibniz with the skepticism of Hume. In particular, Kant believed that only experiential objects could be known and that man had to believe in certain apriori concepts for morality to exist. Although we can never be certain of these apriori elements, for they can never be proven scientifically or otherwise, Kant posits that the categorical imperative is the ultimate moral law. (For those of you who have not read Kant, his categorical imperative states that man should "Act as if the maxim from which you act were to become through your will a universal law").
Kant's writings have spured Neo-Kantanists and influenced such great philosophers such as Ficthe, Schelling, and Hegel.
The following is a list of Kant's works:
Critique of Pure Reason [1781]
Critique of Practical Reason [1788]
Critque of Judgement [1790]
Other sources of information
The Window-Immanuel
Kant on The Web
Immanuel Kant-Metaphysics
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