Kantian Freedom: Anthropological not Metaphysical
Abstract: In Kant’s pragmatic or practical anthropology,which is conceived as a sort of “knowledge of the world”,freedom refers not so much to a property pertaining to the transcendental subject within the noumenal world as to a moral ideal for human beings living in the natural world.While this conception of freedom shares the same concerns with Kant’s more famous metaphysical theory of freedom,the former proposes a non-metaphysical account of the relationship between freedom and nature and is saved from many serious difficulties inherent in the latter.As a less problematic and more promising version,the anthropological account better represents the true meaning and enduring significance of Kant’s conception of freedom.