IMMANUEL KANT

ANTHROPOLOGY FROM
A PRAGMATIC POINT OF VIEW
In Memory of My Father and of Professor H. ]. Paton
 IMMANUEL KANT

ANTHROPOLOGY FROM
A PRAGMATIC POINT OF VIEW

Translated, with an Introduction and Notes,

by

MARY J. GREGOR

•
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1974
© I974 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form

ISBN-13: 978-90-247-1585-5 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-0/0-2018-3

DOl: /0./007/978-94-0/0-2018-3
 CONTENTS

TRANSLATORS INTRODUCTION IX

NOTE XXVI

ANTHROPOLOGY FROM A PRAGMATIC POINT OF VIEW

PART 1. ANTHROPOLOGICAL DIDACTIC

BOOK 1. ON THE COGNITIVE POWERS

On Self-Consciousness 9
On Egoism IO
On Voluntary Consciousness of Our Ideas I3
On Observing Oneself I3
On Ideas That We Have without Being Conscious of Them I6
On Distinctness and Indistinctness in Consciousness of Our
Ideas I8
On Sensibility as Contrasted with Understanding 2I
Apology for Sensibility 23
On Ability with Regard to the Cognitive Powers in
General 26
On Artificial Play with Sensory Semblance 29
On Permissible Moral Semblance 30
On the Five Senses 32
On Inner Sense 39
On the Causes that Increase or Decrease the Intensity of
Our Sense Impressions 40
On the Inhibition, Weakening, and Total Loss of the Sense
Powers 43
On the Constructive Power belonging to Sensibility
According to Its Various Forms 50
VIII CONTENTS

On the Power of Bringing the Past and the Future to

Mind by Imagination 56
On Involuntary Invention in a State of Health - That Is,
on Dreaming 63
On the Power of Using Signs 64
On the Cognitive Power Insofar As It Is Based on Under-
standing 68
On Deficiencies and Diseases of the Soul with Respect to
Its Cognitive Power 73
On Talents in the Cognitive Power 89

BOOK II. THE FEELING OF PLEASURE AND DISPLEASURE

On Sensuous Pleasure
A. On the Feeling for the Agreeable, or Sensuous Plea-
sure in the Sensation of an Object 99
B. On the Feeling for the Beautiful, or Taste !O7

BOOK III. ON THE ApPETITIVE POWER

On Affects in Comparison with Passion 120
On the Passions 132
On the Highest Physical Good 142
On the Highest Moral-Physical Good 143

PART II. ANTHROPOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION

A. The Character of the Person 151
I. On [a Man's] Nature 151
2. On Temperament 152
3. On Character as [a Man's] Way of Thinking 157
On Physiognomy 160
B. On the Character of the Sexes 166
C. On the Character of Nations 174
D. On the Character of Races 182
E. On the Character of the Species 182
Description of the Character of the Human Species 190

NOTES 195

INDEX 209
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

In a footnote to the Preface of his A nthropology Kant gives, if not

altogether accurately, the historical background for the publication of
this work. The A nthropology is, in effect, his manual for a course of
lectures which he gave "for some thirty years," in the winter semesters
at the University of Konigsberg. In 1797, when old age forced him to
discontinue the course and he felt that his manual would not compete
with the lectures themselves, he decided to let the work be published
(Ak. VII, 354, 356).
The reader will readily see why these lectures were, as Kant says,
popular ones, attended by people from other walks of life. In both
content and style the Anthropology is far removed from the rigors of the
Critiques. Yet the Anthropology presents its own special problems. The
student of Kant who struggles through the Critique of Pure Reason is
undoubtedly left in some perplexity regarding specific points in it, but
he is quite clear as to what Kant is attempting to do in the work. On
finishing the Anthropology he may well find himself in just the opposite
situation. While its discussions of the functioning of man's various
powers are, on the whole, quite lucid and even entertaining, the purpose
of the work remains somewhat vague. The questions: what is pragmatic
anthropology? what is its relation to Kant's more strictly philosophical
works? have not been answered satisfactorily.
A proper discussion of the relation between the A nthropology and
Kant's critical works would require a book in itself. In this intro-
duction, however, it may be possible at least to remove some of the
ambiguity regarding Kant's conception of "pragmatic anthropology"
and so to situate it within the context of his system.
The Anthropology is generally referred to as Kant's work in empirical
psychology, his attempt to catalogue the powers of the mind and to
describe their functioning in some detail. Though this description needs
x TRANSLATO~S INTRODUCTION

to be qualified, it can serve as a preliminary conception to introduce

the distinction between rational and empirical psychology. Having
followed Kant's argument that our theoretical study of the human
mind cannot descend into the empirical without ceasing to be genuine
science, we may be better able to judge why, in undertaking an em-
pirical study of man, Kant chose to write anthropology - and, more-
over, pragmatic anthropology - rather than empirical psychology.
Although Kant refers repeatedly to anthropology as a "science,"
and even mentions the difficulties, in the way of accurate observation,
involved in raising it to the rank of a science "in the formal sense," he
seems to mean by this only that anthropology, under the guidance of
philosophy, can achieve a certain systematic form. Within the over-all
classification of the human faculties into those of cognition, feeling and
appetite, the anthropologist can assume, for example, the structure of
knowledge established in the Critique of Pure Reason, which defined
the role of the various cognitive powers and their relation to one another
in experience. Hence he has a general schema - a complete list of
headings, as Kant puts it - into which he can fit his more detailed
divisions of the human powers and his observations of the ways men
use and misuse them. More precisely, Kant sees anthropology as a
collective undertaking, with philosophy providing the ground plan that
draws together the work of the various anthropologists into a system-
atic whole. But anthropological knowledge consists in generalizations
from facts established by observation of men's behaviour; and a collec-
tion of such facts and generalizations does not become a science in the
strict sense merely because they are arranged in a certain systematic
order. In order to enter upon "the sure path of a science," such a body
of knowledge would need a "rational part" or "metaphysical first
principles" which would provide an a priori basis, and hence apodictic
certitude, for its empirically learned laws. And Kant maintains that in
our knowledge of the human mind, as distinguished from bodies, we
have no adequate basis for a pure or rational part of psychology that
would enable its empirical part to become a genuine science. In order
to clarify this point, we must go back to Kant's discussion of the rela-
tion between the pure and the empirical parts of a science. *
In both theoretical and practical knowledge, Kant distinguishes
between empirical knowledge and the metaphysical principles of know-

• The principal source for the following discussion is Kant's Metaphysische Anjangsgrande
der Naturwissenschaft, Preface (Ak. IV, 467 ff.). For a detailed discussion of this distinction
with reference to moral philosophy, cf. my Laws of Freedom, pp. 1-33.
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION XI

ledge and, within the latter, between two kinds of metaphysics. With
regard to the metaphysics of nature, where the distinction is developed
more explicitly, we have on the one hand its "transcendental part" and,
on the other, the metaphysics of corporeal and of thinking nature. The
essential difference between the two is that the transcendental part of
the metaphysics of nature, whose framework is elaborated in the
Critique 0/ Pure Reason, deals with the a priori intuitions, concepts and
principles which are the conditions of possible experience as such and,
accordingly, has no special reference to the determinate kinds of
natural objects that may be given to the senses. The metaphysics of
corporeal and thinking nature, on the other hand, seeks to determine
what can be known a priori regarding certain types of objects - body
and mind - that are given to the senses. From this it follows that the
transcendental part of metaphysics is "pure" knowledge in the stricter
sense of the term: in other words, the elements of knowledge it contains
are independent of sense experience regarding both their content and
the connection asserted between them; for their content is derived by
reflection upon the activity of the mind itself, not from sense experience,
and the connection is made by reason independently of sense experi-
ence. The metaphysics of corporeal and thinking nature, however,
must admit such empirical knowledge as is necessary to give us the
concept of an object of outer sense or of inner sense in general, i.e. the
empirical concept of body or of mind. So it is pure knowledge only in
the wider sense of the term: its central concept - matter, in the case of
corporeal nature - is derived from sense experience, but it asserts only
those laws of matter which can be enunciated without further recourse
to experience. By virtue of this, it is the "pure" or "rational" part of
physics, as distinguished from empirical physics, the laws of which
must be learned by observation and experiment.
Now, Kant argues, an empirically learned body of knowledge can
become a science in the strict sense only insofar as there is a pure or
rational body of knowledge corresponding to its object. As we have
seen, the mere presence of empirical elements in cognition does not
militate against its apodictic certitude, which is the mark of genuine
science. It is not the origin of the concepts themselves but rather the
sort of connection asserted between them that is relevant. To the extent
that an a priori connection can be demonstrated between empirically
learned concepts, such statements are laws in the strict sense of the
term, principles characterized by true universality and necessity. The
concepts so connected may be derived from experience. The connection
XII TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

itself may be learned from controlled observation and experiment.

The crucial question is whether the connection can be demonstrated
a priori. With regard to Newtonian mechanics, the Metaphysical First
Principles ot Natural Science is, itself, Kant's affirmative reply. A
rational part of physics can be constructed. Hence the empirical part
of physics constitutes a genuine science.
However, it is Kant's reply to the question regarding the rational
part of psychology that concerns us here. In the first Critique Kant
established that nothing can be done, toward a science of rational
psychology, with the purely formal unity of the "I" as subject of
consciousness (A 343). Since the "I" is without content, it provides
no basis for such a science, and "nothing is left for us but to study our
soul under the guidance of experience" (A 382). The question, in the
Metaphysical First Principles ot Natural Science, is whether this em-
pirical study of the soul can ever become a genuine science, correspond-
ing to empirical physics. And Kant's reply is, in short, that since there
cannot be a pure or rational part of psychology - that is, metaphysical
first principles of thinking nature - the empirical study of the soul
cannot become a genuine science.
If we are dealing with objects as determinate natural things "which
can be given (as existing) outside of thought," mere concepts are not
enough (M.A.d.N., Ak. IV, 470). From concepts we can establish only
logical possibility, i.e. we can show only that the concept is not self-
contradictory. Because of the passive element in human knowledge,
sensibility, we can know objects as existing outside of thought only if
they are given in intuition. And in order to have a priori knowledge of
existing objects, we must be able to construct the concept correspond-
ing to the object, i.e. to exhibit that concept in pure intuition. Since
the construction of concepts is the work of mathematics, it follows that
"in any particular doctrine of nature only as much genuine science is
to be found as there is mathematics in it" (ibid., 470). Since bodies are
given to sensibility under the form of space, there is a pure part of
physics, and empirical physics is a science. But appearances of inner
sense are in the form of time alone, and time, unlike space, cannot yield
sufficient material for construction of a pure part of psychology. Time,
most notably, has only one dimension; and even to speak of time as
having one dimension is to think of it by analogy with space (ibid., 47I;
K.d.r. V. B So). Accordingly, Kant concludes, empirical psychology
cannot become a genuine science.
In the case of practical or moral philosophy, it may be noted, the
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION XIII

situation is quite different. Here, Kant suggests, we do have both a

transcendental part of metaphysics, i.e. a study of the supreme princip-
le of morality as a law for rational beings as such, and a part analogous
to the metaphysical first principles of corporeal nature, which applies
this principle to a limited amount of empirical knowledge, to "men
considered merely as men," without reference to the contingent circum-
stances in which men may find themselves (Metaphysik der Sitten, Ak.
VI, 205, 468). But at this point the analogy breaks down. There can be
no empirical part of ethics corresponding to empirical physics. While
the laws of empirical physics must be grounded in the a priori principles
of rational physics, the physicist learns these laws from experience. On
the other hand, no moral rule - no matter how much empirical know-
ledge it contains - can be learned from experience: because the thought
of duty must be the motive in moral action, any moral principle must
be, to this extent, a conscious application of the supreme principle of
morality. While the philosopher supplies a metaphysics of nature for
the physicist, every man, as a moral being, has a metaphysic of morals
in himself. Instead of an empirical part of ethics, Kant speaks of moral
anthropology, which seems to be a theoretical study of man with refer-
ence to the factors in him that help or hinder the development of
morality (ibid., 2I7).
Below the level of transcendental philosophy, then, there is no
genuine science of the mind, but only empirical psychology on the one
hand and, on the other, anthropology, which can be studied from either
a moral, a pragmatic, or a physiological point of view. Why Kant chose
the last of these for his empirical study of man must remain, to some
extent, a matter of speculation. But the text of the Anthropology pro-
vides clues as to why he rejected empirical psychology and physiological
anthropology.
In Kant's terminology, there is a distinction between psychology and
anthropology. The anthropologist prescinds from the question of
whether man has a soul "in the sense ot a separate, incorporeal sub-
stance"; the psychologist believes that he perceives a soul within
himself and studies his inner experience as states of this separate sub-
stance (Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht, Ak. VII, I6I). This is,
indeed, a startling description of empirical psychology; but two con-
siderations help to explain it. First, Kant remarks, earlier in the
Anthropology (142), that "people who study the soul" usually confuse
inner sense with pure apperception. In other words, by confusing the
pure self-consciousness which is the merely formal condition of experi-
XIV TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

ence with our empirical consciousness of our states of mind, they regard
the empty and formal "I think" as an object of inner experience, a
thinking substance. Kant's description of psychology, in other words,
is a statement of what psychologists actually do, rather than what they
ought to do. Secondly, as a statement in the Collegentwurfe shows (Ak.,
XV (2), SOl), he wants to distinguish pragmatic anthropology from
both psychology, which traces mental phenomena to a principle other
than the body (a "soul"), and physiology, which traces them to the
brain. Pragmatic anthropology does not try to "explain" mental events
and human behaviour generally by tracing them to their source in a
principle or substance, whether corporeal or incorporeal. The procedure
of the psychologist is illegitimate; that of the physiologist is legitimate,
but of very limited value - we shall have to return to this point shortly.
Granting, however, that the psychologists of Kant's day were con-
fused, Kant could have reformed the study of empirical psychology,
as he did not hesitate to reform metaphysics and ethics. What, on
Kant's principles, could empirical psychology legitimately do, and
why did Kant not undertake such a study?
In order to avoid the complexities of Kant's doctrine of inner sense,
let us merely say that the psychologist could, at least, study his own
states of mind, the appearances of inner sense, and work toward a set
of generalizations regarding their sequence. Kant's objections to em-
pirical psychology would then center on the method of introspection it
involves. In a study of this kind there is an unduly wide field for error.
For appearances of inner sense, being in the form of time alone and so
in flux, do not have the permanence that is required for accurate
observation. Moreover, this preoccupation with his inner experience
can endanger the psychologist's mental health, since he can easily come
to regard the inventions of his imagination as either appearances
originating in outer sense or even, given a certain bent of mind, inspi-
rations from a supernatural source (Anthr., Ak. VII, 133, 160) - not to
mention the psychologist's temptation to experiment with his own
mind, in order better to understand abnormal states (ibid., 216). The
only remedy - or, we might add, preventive - for this withdrawal into
inner experience is to turn one's attention outward, to objects of outer
sense. If we are to undertake an empirical study of the mind, it should
take the form of anthropology, which is oriented to "the world," the
behaviour of men in society. It is true that, in order to interpret the
behaviour of others, we must begin by studying our own mental pro-
cesses: these are the only mental activities of which we have, so to
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION xv

speak, an inside view. But there is a profound difference between a

morbid preoccupation with our inner experience and a study of the use
we can make of our own powers and of other men.
Given Kant's distrust of psychology, it is clear that his empirical
study of men would take the form of anthropology. And, within
anthropology, Kant was in a sense not free to study "physiological
anthropology." Such a study would examine the causal influence of
changes in the body - especially the brain cells - on the functioning of
man's powers and on his behaviour generally. As examples, Kant
mentions Descartes' theory of material ideas and the efforts of forensic
medicine to account for certain kinds of criminal behaviour. But the
study of physiology is in its infancy and, as Kant puts it, we simply do
not know enough about the brain to explain human activity in terms
of events in the brain cells (ibid., IIg). Moreover - and this, I take it,
is a separate point - we do not understand how to use physiological
knowledge for our purposes. Even if we had a far greater knowledge of
physiology than is the case, we would still remain mere "spectators,"
watching and, perhaps, understanding the play of our ideas, feelings,
etc. We would, in short, be adopting the spectator's, the outsider's
view of both knowledge and action, and so missing the essential point
of them both.
In discussing freedom as the necessary presupposition of moral action,
Kant makes his well-known distinction between the observer's and
the agent's view of human action, a distinction which, although it
refers specifically to freedom in the sense of moral autonomy, is to some
extent applicable to the relative freedom that characterizes human
action as such. Observing our own or other people's actions as physical
events, we regard the subject as passively affected by his sensibility, as
a member of the sensible world. As conscious of our own spontaneity,
we regard ourselves, by virtue of the pure activity of our practical
reason, as the authors of our own actions, as members of the intelligible
world (Grundlegung zur Metaphysik del' Sitten, Ak. IV, 45off.). When
we descend to the relative freedom that can be discussed outside the
context of moral philosophy, the metaphysical significance of Kant's
distinction between these two standpoints disappears. But a difference
of standpoint remains, which is the difference between the viewpoint
of the physiologist and that of the practical anthropologist. While a
mere spectator would view another person's action as a causal sequence
between two events, in terms of stimulus and response, the agent re-
gards himself as free, that is, as acting on a maxim or subjective prin-
XVI TRANSLATO~S INTRODUCTION

ciple of action in which he generalizes both the incentive and the action
and, to use Paton's term, wills the action as an instance of a concept.
If we do not adopt the spectator's view of other people's actions, it is
because of our inside knowledge of our own actions.
Less familiar, perhaps, is Kant's parallel argument regarding the
nature of thought. In the Groundwork, he introduces the autonomy of
practical reason by considering the autonomy of theoretical reason, its
freedom to act in accordance with the principles of its own functioning
(ibid., 448). Though we cannot observe other people's thinking processes
as we can observe their behaviour, here too we can distinguish between
the spectator's viewpoint, according to which one mental event would
follow upon another (as in the empirical association of ideas), and the
point of view of the thinker, in which a mental event which is the
affirmation of a conclusion follows from insight into the meaning and
connection of the premises. The Anthropology seems to echo this point,
when Kant notes that the power of abstraction shows that the mind is
autonomous, i.e. not determined to attend to the sequence of sense
representations, no matter how strong they may be (Ak. VII, 131).
Physiological anthropology might, indeed, be of some use to society
if our knowledge of physiology were more highly developed. If, for
example, we could explain a criminal's behaviour by changes in his
brain cells, we would know that he needs medical attention and not
punishment. But in such a case we would be asserting, in effect, that
the crime was not really a human action (ibid., 213-14). In any case,
physiological anthropology would fail to attract Kant's interest, since
it would prescind from what he considers the essential character of
human thought and action. * Physiological anthropology could legiti-
mately deal with man only in his passive aspect, as the "plaything" of
his senses and imagination, e.g. with the way he is affected by ideas of
which he is not directly conscious (ibid., 136). If it tries to go beyond
this, it misses what is distinctive about man as a rational being.
Kant's choice, then, was one between pragmatic anthropology and
moral anthropology, i.e. between a study of men with a view to formu-
lating rules about how they can use one another for their purposes, and
a study of men directed to rules about the way they can use their
natural powers and dispositions to make the practice of morality easier
and more effective. Both of these, it should be noted, are empirical

• The same objection would, I think, apply to what we now call behavioural psychology,
which would avoid the dangers of introspection only at the expense of giving an essentially
irrelevant account of hllman behaviour.
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION XVII

theoretical knowledge of men which, assuming that we have certain

ends (pragmatic or moral ones), provide us with material for formulating
rules to achieve these ends. Perhaps a formal treatise on moral anthro-
pology would have raised such far reaching questions about the relation
of the sensible and intelligible worlds that it could never be treated in
popular lectures. In any case, the work we have is pragmatic anthro-
pology, and we must now try to clarify the meaning of this term.
As soon as we raise the question of the nature and purpose of prag-
matic anthropology, however, we find ourselves involved in a series of
apparent inconsistencies. On the one hand, Kant maintains that where-
as physiological anthropology studies "what nature makes of man,"
pragmatic anthropology studies "what man as a free agent makes, or
can and should make, of himself" (ibid., II9). Apart from one lapse,
which seems to be mere carelessness, he consistently maintains this
distinction. In his works on moral philosophy, however, he distinguish-
ed between moral philosophy, which prescribes what man ought to do,
and anthropology, which is experiential knowledge, a "doctrine of
nature," and studies men as they actually are (Gr., Ak. IV, 388-9;
M.d.S., Ak. VI, 385, 405-6). Now if empirical knowledge of men can
yield only a general description of men's tendencies to behave in certain
ways, how can pragmatic anthropology study man as a free agent and
determine what he should make of himself?
Within the Anthropology, the notion of what man can and should
make 01 himself develops along with the meaning of the term "prag-
matic." In this respect the first part of the Anthropology, the Didactic,
takes on its full significance only in the light of the concluding section
of the Characterization, which attempts to "characterize" the human
species. But some general considerations will help to reconcile, pro-
visionally, the apparent inconsistencies we noted above.
First, anthropology is, as Kant's ethical writings state, experiential
knowledge of general tendencies in human thought and action, psycho-
logical observations about human behaviour (using "psychological" in
a non-Kantian sense). As such, it is a study of men as they are, of the
ways in which they tend to "use and misuse" their powers. But even to
speak of "misusing" our powers implies the idea of a norm from which
we are deviating: to say, for example, that the most serious fault of
imagination is "lawlessness" implies that, in the proper order of things,
imagination mediates between sense and understanding and is subject
to the laws of understanding. And the principle at work here extends
through the discussion of feeling and appetite, as well as cognition. This
XVIII TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

detennination of the nonn is one of the most significant ways in which

philosophy can be said to direct the anthropologist's work. In deter-
mining the fonnal structure of knowledge, theoretical philosophy indi-
cates the proper relations of the cognitive powers to one another, just as
practical philosophy, reflecting on the nature of reason insofar as it
determines action, indicates the due relation of desire and reason.
To apply any such nonn to man's use of his powers, however, is al-
ready to regard man as, in some sense, a free being. In the MetaPhysic
0/ Morals, discussing man's duty of adopting his natural perfection as
an end, Kant points out that man, "as a being who is able to set ends
for himself ... is indebted for the use of his powers not merely to
natural instinct but rather to the freedom" by which he determines
what the scope of his powers should be (Ak. VI, 441). In man, both the
higher cognitive powers and the appetites are, to some extent, released
from the mechanical rule of their functioning which characterizes lower
animals, and their proper ordering becomes a task, an end to be achieved,
rather than a given fact. In short, the Anthropology is a collection of
empirical rules about the way men behave. But to the extent that it
considers certain ways of using our powers as, in some sense, good, it
regards us as, in some sense, rational and hence free beings, and indicates
what we can and should make of ourselves.
To specify in what sense pragmatic anthropology regards man as
free we must define the term "pragmatic." Unfortunately, Kant uses
"pragmatic" in several different senses, and we cannot understand what
he is doing in the Anthropology without both distinguishing and relating
them.
The most familiar sense of "pragmatic" is, perhaps, the one used in
the Groundwork, where Kant distinguishes between three types of
objective practical principles: the technical, the pragmatic or pruden-
tial, and the practical or moral. Objective practical principles in general
are principles of practical reason on which a rational agent would
necessarily act if his reason were in control of his inclinations, and on
which an imperfectly rational agent, whose inclinations may be at
variance with his reason, ought to act. For him, these objective practical
principles are imperatives. The essential difference among imperatives
is that between moral or categorical imperatives, which prescribe certain
actions as unconditionally necessary, and hypothetical imperatives,
which prescribe certain actions as rationally necessary under the
condition of our having certain ends to which the actions in question
are the rational means. The difference between an imperative of skill or
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION XIX

a technical imperative and an imperative of prudence or a pragmatic

imperative is, according to this text, that the former prescribes the
means to an arbitrary end, while the latter prescribes the means to an
end which all men have, i.e. happiness (Gr., Ak. IV, 414ff.). Elsewhere,
including the Anthropology, Kant regards reason in its prudential
function as determining not only the means to happiness but the com-
position or content of the end itself: that is, determining which of the
individual's desires can be satisfied in an integral whole (Gr., Ak. IV,
405; Anthr., Ak. VII, 266).
In the Anthropology, however, "pragmatic" generally refers, more
narrowly, to skill in using other men for one's own purposes. Nor is this
merely a matter of Kant's offering, as he sometimes does, a formal
definition which he subsequently ignores. On the contrary, the dis-
cussion is often directed specifically to the "pragmatic" use we can
make of anthropological observations. To appreciate this point, we
need only compare Kant's ethical treatment of the passions as abridge-
ments of inner freedom with his pragmatic discussion of the way one
can manipulate a man dominated by a passion and, by playing on it,
use him for one's own purposes (ibid., 271ff.). In terms of the Ground-
work's classification of principles, the Anthropology seems intended to
provide us with such knowledge of men as will enable us to formulate
technical rules for using them.
If the Anthropology is not a study of man in the abstract but of
"the world," it will regard men, not as using things in general, but as
using each other for their purposes. As for the end at which men's
actions aim, a footnote in the Groundwork connects its use of "prag-
matic" with the Anthropology's. There Kant points out that the term
"prudence" [Klugheit] has two meanings: "worldly wisdom" [Welt-
klugheit], which refers to a man's skill in influencing others in order to
use them for his own ends, and "personal wisdom" [Privatklugheit] ,
which is sagacity in combining all these ends to his own lasting advan-
tage. The value of worldly wisdom is located in private wisdom; and
if a man has worldly wisdom without private wisdom, it would be
better to call him clever and astute, but on the whole imprudent.
(Gr., Ak. IV, 416n.). In more general terms, when a principle of skill
comes into conflict with the principle of prudence, prudence over-rides
skill; but when there is no conflict between the two, principles of skill
are taken up into prudence: insofar as he is rational, a man will use the
most effective means toward promoting these goals that are integral
to his own happiness.
xx TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

If we insist on distinguishing skill and prudence in terms of the

Groundwork's classification of principles, pragmatic anthropology seems
to be empirical knowledge of men collected with a view to the principles
of skill we should adopt in using other men for whatever purposes we
may have. Every science, Kant notes, has a "practical part" which,
assuming that we may have certain ends, lays down imperatives by
which we are to reach them (ibid., 415). Pragmatic anthropology would
then regard man as a free being in the sense of a being who can set ends
or act on maxims (these are merely different ways of saying the same
thing), and consider what he can and should make of himself as a being
capable of using other men effectively in pursuit of his ends. It would,
presumably, have as its background the "pragmatic" view of man in
the wider sense of prudential, assuming that his purposes are consistent
with his own lasting advantage. In this way the Anthropology could,
perhaps, be made verbally consistent with the Groundwork.
But within the context of the Anthropology it would, I think, be a
mistake to make too much of this distinction between skill and prudence.
Kant himself seems quite casual about maintaining it. At one point,
for example, he refers to skill as a man's "dexterity in achieving what-
ever ends he has chosen," and to prudence as "using other men for his
purposes" (Anthr., Ak. VII, 201). Again, he refers rather vaguely to
the integral satisfaction of one's inclinations as a matter of the "sensu-
ously practical" (ibid., 267); the opposite of this, i.e. the satisfaction of
one inclination at the expense of all the others, is "pragmatically
ruinous." In another text, principles of skill and prudence are lumped
together under the term "pragmatic" (ibid., 235); at one point, it is by
prudence that one "can manipulate fools" (ibid., 271). Again, man's
"technical predisposition" stresses his ability to handle things, physical-
ly, in any number of ways (ibid., 322). One gets the impression that in
describing the aim of pragmatic anthropology as an indication of the
ways one can use other men for one's purposes, Kant is not overly
concerned with precisely what these purposes may be. His emphasis is,
rather, on the fact that we are considering man as a citizen of the world,
as interacting with other men and hence "using" them in the way a
rational being uses anything, that is, as means to the ends he has him-
self adopted. This impression is confirmed when, in Kant's final cha-
racterization of man in terms of his whole species, the Anthropology
opens out into a prospect that makes man's conscious aims of secondary
importance.
This emphasis on man as a being who interacts with other men in
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION XXI

pursuit of his ends brings us to the Anthropology's characteristic use of

"pragmatic," one aspect of which was foreshadowed in the Metaphysic
of Morals. There, it will be recalled, Kant discussed man's imperfect
duty to himself "from a pragmatic point of view," that is, his duty to
include among his ends the cultivation of his natural powers, especially
his practical reason and the powers he can use in achieving the ends he
sets by it. The ground of this duty is not prudential considerations:
Kant leaves open the question of whether Rousseau was right in
maintaining that man is better off, in this respect, in his crude natural
state. It is, rather, the fact that man is a being capable of setting ends
that establishes his duty of "making himself a useful member of the
world" (M.d.S., Ak. VI, 444ff.). This use of "pragmatic" is, in one
respect, close to that of the Anthropology, in that it stresses man's
liberation from nature by the cultivation of the arts and sciences, that
is, by culture. For reasons which will become clear later on, the Anthro-
pology emphasizes, rather, man's liberation from nature through the
discipline of his inclinations required for life in society. Having first
defined man's "pragmatic predisposition" as man's predisposition "for
using other men skilfully for his purposes," Kant goes on to describe it
as man's predisposition to become civilized through culture, "especially
the cultivation of social qualities," and, in social relations, to leave the
crude state of his nature, where private force prevails, and become "a
well-bred (if not yet moral) being destined for concord" (A nthr., Ak.
VII, 324). In both cases, though with a significant difference, "prag-
matic" refers to the cultivation of the natural powers and tendencies
found in man: first, his power to set ends and act effectively in pursuit
of them and, secondly, his tendency to become a civilized member of
civil society. The fact that Kant regards this sense of "pragmatic" as
merely an elaboration of man's predisposition to use other men skilfully
for his purposes forces us to reconsider the significance of the latter
phrase.
I suggested earlier that in the Anthropology Kant is not particularly
concerned to specify exactly what the purposes envisaged in pragmatic
principles may be. The reason for this is, I think, indicated in his
summary characterization:of the human species in terms of its technical,
pragmatic, and moral predispositions:
The sum total of what pragmatic anthropology has to say about man's destiny
and the character of his development is this: man is destined by his reason to
live in a society with men and in it to cultivate himself, to civilize himself, and
to make himself moral by the arts and sciences.
(ibid., 324-25)
XXII TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

Pragmatic anthropology studies "the world," man in a state which is

a step in his development from animal rationabile to animal rationale.
Although the anthropologist cannot prescribe what man ought to make
of himself in moral terms - that is the work of moral philosophy -
neither can he ignore what we know of man from moral philosophy:
namely, that he has within him the power of pure practical reason and
is, accordingly, his own final end. To ignore this predisposition would
be to present a false view of man. Pragmatic anthropology, as I noted
earlier, works under the guidance of philosophy; and in the present
context the most relevant branch of philosophy is philosophy of history,
which searches out the value of history, and which Kant proceeds to
summarize in concluding the Anthropology. *
Briefly, and in an over-simplified form,** Kant views history as the
account of what nature does to prepare the human race for its final end.
This end, the realization of moral autonomy, is something that each
individual can achieve only by himself, in complete independence from
nature. But, taking the human race collectively, nature can and does
impel man toward a state in which he is ready to realize his capacity
and predisposition for freedom and, ultimately, for moral freedom. For
the state of civil society which man's "unsocial sociability" impels him
to enter provides the framework within which the "seed of good"
inherent in him can develop.
The materials nature has to work with are man's natural instincts,
by virtue of which he is both social and anti-social, and his capacity for
rational action. Man is by his nature a being who needs and wants to
live in peace with his fellow men and yet, because of his natural desire
for unrestricted freedom, cannot avoid coming into conflict with them.
But he is also, as Kant puts it, "resourceful"; and so, to escape from
this intolerable state of conflict, he concludes with his fellow men an
agreement to renounce the private use of force and live in a state where
each man's exercise of freedom is limited, by the authority of a govern-
ing body, to conditions under which it is compatible with the freedom
of other men. But a similar situation exists among nations, which
continue to make war on one another until, for their own preservation,
they are compelled to renounce the use of force and form an inter-
national society which will bring about "perpetual peace."
• The main sources for Kant's philosophy of history, apart from the Anthropology itself,
are indicated in my notes to the text, note I to page 3.
•• Particularly relevant to the content of the A ntkropology is Kant's emphasis on nature's
way of counteracting man's tendency to passive enjoyment and spurring him to the activity
that is necessary if he is to realize his capacity for freedom.
 TRANSLATOR~ INTRODUCTION XXIII

In all this, "nature's purpose" is to be distinguished from the con-

scious purposes of men. In forming a civil society or an international
society, and in the conflict that leads to this, men are seeking their own
security and their advantage in terms of well being, whereas nature is
aiming at the development of their capacity for rational action. It is,
in other words, aiming at their freedom. But man's freedom, as we have
seen, is not necessarily moral freedom. The setting of any end whatso-
ever, "of an arbitrary end in general" - or, to put it differently, action
on a maxim - is a work of freedom, not a mechanism of nature, as is
natural instinct. On the one hand, this sort of freedom raises man above
the level of nature; on the other hand, man here remains, ultimately,
within the realm of nature, because the basis on which he adopts his
ends is inclination.
Within this relative freedom, however, we can distinguish two
aspects. The Metaphysic of Morals stresses one aspect: man's ability to
rise above the level of instinct and act in pursuit of ends. This it can do
because, as moral philosophy, it can prescribe obligatory ends to man
- his own natural and moral perfection and the happiness of other men.
But if we abstract from what moral philosophy enjoins, this liberation
from instinct is dangerous both to himself and to his fellow men. By it
man is free not only to pervert his instincts that lead to his self-
preservation and the preservation of the species, but to expand his
desires ad infinitum. Given the additional consideration that in a state
of culture man's desires and passions are raised to their highest pitch,
the result of this aspect of man's freedom, taken in isolation, is a
"splendid misery" (Kritik der Urteilskraft, Ak. V, 43Iff.). The Anthro-
pology, accordingly, stresses the other aspect of freedom involved in
civil society, the development of man's tendency to become a well-bred
member of society who can live peacefully with his fellow men. *
In civil society the individual can no longer resort to private force to
achieve his ends. He must rather use skill in his dealings with other men
and influence them to help him achieve his ends. And this means,
essentially, that he must cultivate the social qualities that will make
other men like and admire him. This is the consideration that seems to
provide the ultimate link between Kant's earlier use of "pragmatic" in
the sense of skill in using other men for one's purposes and his reference
to man's "pragmatic" predisposition to become a well bred member of

* Both aspects of this freedom are discussed in their relation to each other in the Appendix
to the Critique of Judgment.
XXIV TRANSLATOR~ INTRODUCTION

society. A pragmatic view of the world, then, stresses the aspect of

man's social freedom that consists in the discipline of his inclinations
which is essential to refined social intercourse. So, for example, the
anthropologist finds woman a more interesting study than man: being
physically weaker, she must rely on persuasiveness to achieve her ends,
the "pragmatic consequence" of which is that woman must "discipline
herself" in practical matters (Anthr., Ak. VII, 303ff.). But nature's
purpose in making woman as she is - and it is only in civil society that
woman's nature reveals itself - is not only the preservation of the
human species but its refinement through the development of social
qualities (ibid., 306). While this sort of refinement implies discipline of
the inclinations, it is not yet moral freedom. Man can discipline his
immediate inclinations with a view to persuading others to co-operate
toward whatever ends he may have, whether these are arbitrary ends
or his own happiness. But in nature's scheme of things, this process of
rising above his "crude" nature by becoming both cultured and civilized
is a step toward moral freedom.
We have noted that man is by nature both social and anti-social.
The social aspect of his nature takes the form of a natural desire to be
loved and respected by others and, when his anti-social demand for un-
limited freedom is limited by law, this desire expresses itself in his
development of social qualities. In Kant's "anthropological character-
ization" of nations, England and France, "the two most civilized
nations on earth," appear as the respective embodiments of this two-
fold desire. The French have developed the qualities that make them
amiable: their natural taste for conversation influences them to be
obliging and kind to others and must lead them to become "gradually,
generally humanitarian according to principles" (ibid., 313). The
English, on the other hand, waive any claim to be loved and want only
respect. To this end the Englishman strives to compensate for his
natural lack of a national character by "making a character for him-
self," i.e. by developing qualities of firmness and resolution in holding
to whatever principles he has adopted. This is not yet moral character:
as the Frenchman is, basically, trying to satisfy his need for communi-
cation, so the Englishman is trying to make himself a man of conse-
quence (ibid., 314). But he has a semblance of moral character and an
attitude that is conducive to it (ibid., 293). As Kant notes, we first
develop a character, then good character (Ak., XV (2), 514). The points
of interest here are, first, that Kant regards both the amiability of the
French and the resoluteness of the English as resulting from their
 TRANSLATO~S INTRODUCTION xxv

respective cultures (Anthr., Ak. VII, 315), and that both these qualities,
though not moral in themselves, are conducive to morality.
In the Metaphysic of Morals, after discussing our duties of persuing
our natural and moral perfection and our duties of love and respect
toward others, Kant concludes by considering the "duties of social
intercourse," of cultivating such qualities as sociability, hospitality,
courtesy, affability, by which, instead of isolating ourselves in the
morality we have attained, we take it into society and, by "associating
virtue with the graces," bring virtue into fashion (M.d.S., Ak. VI,
473-4). Here we are, so to speak, working down from the individual's
moral principles to his external social conduct. The same theme is
prominent in the Anthropology; but there we are working up from the
natural development of the human race to its final end in morality. The
problem of how this is to be brought about is full of difficulties, and at
times Kant seems even to doubt the relevance to morality of the sort
of freedom man acquires through culture and civilization (d. Zum
ewigen Frieden, Ak. VIII, 355, 366). On the whole, however, his
pragmatic anthropology views man in his social relationships against
the background of society conceived as a state in which man develops
the freedom that is preparatory to moral freedom.
It is unfortunate that Kant did not see fit to develop this concept of
pragmatic anthropology more explicitly before the concluding pages of
his work. Perhaps he expected his readers to gather all this from the
first paragraph of his Preface, which does in fact situate the work with-
in the context of his philosophy of history. But unless the reader is
exceptionally acute, he is likely to overlook the full significance of
Kant's opening statement, take the Anthropology as a study of men
leading to "pragmatic" rules in the familiar sense of the term, and be
left with the feeling that he has somehow missed the point of what
Kant is doing. The notion of "pragmatic" rules does not readily unite
with the Anthropology's!avowed purpose of studying what man can
and should make of himself. I am well aware that this introduction
raises more problems than it solves. But if it serves to orient the reader
in "pragmatic anthropology," it will have served its purpose.
 NOTE

Two editions of the Anthropology were published during Kant's life-

time: the first edition of 17g8 and the second edition of 1800. The
Berlin Academy edition, which I have used in this translation, is the
second, amended edition, which, on the whole, differs from the first
only in minor points of exposition. Where the second edition differs
from Kant's manuscripts or from the first edition, the Academy edition
cites the variants, which I have used in the few instances where they
seem to expand or clarify the text. Any material so inserted is indicated
by brackets, along with a footnote stating its source. The Academy
edition also gives such of Kant's marginal notes as are legible, and these
have occasionally proved helpful in interpreting the sense of the text.
The marginal numbers in my translation are to the pages of the Acade-
my edition, volume VII.
Volume XV of the Academy edition, which comprises two volumes
(cited as XV (I) or (2)), contains Kant's Nachlass on anthropology,
which the editors have arranged according to the chapter headings of
the Anthropology. It also contains two outlines for Kant's course of
lectures in anthropology, one for the years 1770-80, and one for 1780-
go. Although this material adds little to the published text - which, in
case of discrepancy, naturally has greater authority - it is sometimes
useful to the translator insofar as it occasionally gives a synonym or a
Latin equivalent for an ambiguous word or phrase. Moreover, it helps
to account for the ambiguity of certain terms, and warns the translator
against a mechanical translation of them. In the Anthropology's classi-
fication of mental illnesses, for example, Wahnsinn appears as one of
the four types of mental derangement; yet the term is also used in such
a way as to seem equivalent to mental derangement. The N achlass
reveal that, in one of Kant's experimental classifications, he equated
Wahnsinn with Verruckung, and this points to a generic as well as a
specific use of the term.
 NOTE XXVII

The richness of Kant's vocabulary in the Anthropology makes it, in

some respects, much more difficult to translate than his more strictly
philosophical works. In many cases, where he is distinguishing e.g.
different forms of fear or of deficiency in the cognitive powers, the
translator must, I think, be guided more by the descriptions he gives
than by the standard meaning of the German term - if, indeed, there is
any precise English equivalent for the state he is describing. At other
times, a term is defined but later takes on a meaning which makes the
first translation inaccurate. Schwindel, for example, is first defined in a
way that calls for "vertigo"; but "vertigo" turns out to be too strong a
term for his subsequent use of Schwindel. As a rule I have tried, not
always successfully, to find the shade of meaning required by the
context, except where the repetition of the same German term connects
the different parts ot a discussion. So, tor example, I kept to "diffidence"
as a translation of Blodigkeit, though at one point I should have pre-
ferred "self-effacement" and at another "bashfulness." To indicate
each problem of this sort when no philosophical issue is at stake would
have involved a proliteration of footnotes that would be more annoying
than helpful to the reader.
Kant's own footnotes are indicated by asterisks, and are to be found
at the bottom of the page where they occur. My own footnotes having
to do with the translation of the text itself are indicated by lower case
letters and are also at the bottom of the page. More extensive notes
having to do with the content of the text are indicated by numbers,
and are to be found at the end of the book. When, in these notes, I have
quoted from works of Kant other than the Anthropology, I have used,
with occasional modifications, the following translations: Norman
Kemp Smith's for the Critique of Pure Reason, H. J. Paton's for the
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, James Meredith's for the
Critique of Judgment, and my own translation of Part II of the Meta-
physic of Morals.

Mary J. Gregor
York University, Toronto
April, 1972
 ANTHROPOLOG Y FROM A
PRAGMATIC POINT OF VIEW
 PREFACE

II9 The aim of every step in the cultural progress which is man's education
is to assign this knowledge and skill he has acquired to the world's use.
But the most important object in the world to which he can apply
them is man, because man is his own final end. 1 - So an understanding
of man in terms of his species, as an earthly being endowed with reason,
especially deserves to be called knowledge of the world, even though man
is only one of the creatures in the world.
A systematic treatise comprising our knowledge of man (anthropolo-
gy) can adopt either a physiological or a pragmatic point of view. - Phy-
siological knowledge of man investigates what nature makes of him:
pragmatic, what man as a free agent makes, or can and should make,
of himself. If we ponder natural causes - for example, the possible
natural causes behind the power of memory - we can speculate to and
fro (as Descartes did) about traces, remaining in the brain, of impressions
left by sensations we have experienced. But since we do not know the
cerebral nerves and fibers or understand how to use them for our
purposes, we still have to admit that we are mere spectators at this play
of our ideas and let nature have its way. So theoretical speculation on
the subject is a sheer waste of time. - But when we use our observations
about what has been found to hinder or stimulate memory in order to
increase its scope or efficiency, and need knowledge of man for this
purpose, this is part of anthropology for pragmatic purposes; and that
is precisely what concerns us here.
120 This kind of knowledge, regarded as knowledge 01 the world that must
come after our schooling, is not properly called pragmatic when it is an
extensive knowledge of things in the world - for example, the animals,
plants and minerals of various lands and climates - but only when it is
knowledge of man as a citizen 01 the world. - Accordingly, even know-
ledge of the races of men as produced by the play of nature is not yet
 4 PREFACE

a part of pragmatic, but only of theoretical knowledge of the world.

Besides, the two expressions: to know the world and to know one's
way about in the world are rather far removed in meaning, since in the
first case we only understand the play we have witnessed, while in the
second we have participated in it. But the anthropologist is in a very
unfavorable position for judging the so-called great world, or high
society; for its members are too close to one another and too far re-
moved from other people.
One of the ways of extending the range of anthropology is traveling,
or at least reading travelogues. But if we want to know what we should
look for abroad in order to extend it, we must first have acquired
knowledge of men at home, by associating with our fellow townsmen
and countrymen. * Without a plan of this kind (which already pre-
supposes knowledge of men), the citizen of the world remains very
limited in his anthropology. If philosophy is to order and direct our
general knowledge, this must precede local knowledge; and unless philo-
sophy does this, all the knowledge we acquire is a mere fumbling about
with fragments and cannot give rise to science.

But whenever we try to work out a science of this kind with thor-
oughness, we encounter serious difficulties which human nature itself
121 raises. I) If a man notices that we are observing him and trying to
study him, he will either be self-conscious (embarrassed), and cannot
show himself as he really is, or he will dissemble, and not want to be
known as he is. 2) Even when we want to examine only ourselves, the
situation is critical, especially if we want to study ourselves in a state
of emotional agitation, which does not normally permit dissimulation;
for when our incentives are active, we are not observing ourselves; and
when we are observing ourselves, our incentives are at rest. 3) Circum-
stances of place and time, if they are stable, produce habits which, as
we say, are second nature and make it hard for us to decide what view
to take of ourselves, but much harder to know what to think of our
associates. For the altered situations in which men are either put by
tate or, it they are adventurers, put themselves, make it much more

• A city such as KlJnigsbug on the River Pregel- a large city, the center of a state, the
seat of the government's provincial councils, the site of a university (for cultivation of the
sciences), a seaport connected by rivers with the interior of the country, so that its location
favors traffic with the rest of the country as well as with neighboring or remote countries
having different languages and customs - is a suitable place for broadening one's knowledge
of man and of the world. In such a city, this knowledge can be acquired even without traveling.
 PREFACE 5
difficult for anthropology to rise to the rank of a science in the formal
sense.
Finally, world history, biography, and even plays and novels are
auxiliary means in building up anthropology, though they are not
among its sources. It is true that plays and novels are not really based
on experience and truth, but only on invention. And since their authors
are allowed to exaggerate characters and the situations in which men
are put, as they are in dreams, it would seem that these works add
nothing to our knowledge of men. Still, the main features of fictional
characters, as drawn by a Richardson or a Moliere, must come from
observation of actual human conduct; for while they are exaggerated
in degree, they must correspond to human nature in kind.
If an anthropology written from a pragmatic viewpoint is syste-
matically formulated and yet popular (because it uses examples every
reader can find), it has this advantage for the reading public: that it
gives an exhaustive account of the headings under which we can bring
122 the practical human qualities we observe, and each heading provides
an occasion and invitation for the reader to add his own remarks on the
subject, so as to put it in the appropriate division. In this way the
devotees of anthropology find its labors naturally divided among them,
while the unity of its plan gradually unites these labors into a whole - an
arrangement that promotes and accelerates the development of this
generally useful science. *

• For a period of some thirty years while I was occupied with pure Philosophy - on my
own initiative at first, and later as an academic duty - I gave two courses of lectures intended
as knowledge 01 ,he world: an'hropology (in the winter semester) and physical geography (in
the summer). Since they were popular lectures, people of other professions also used to attend
them. This is the current manual for my course in anthropology. It is hardly possible for me,
at my age, to provide a manual for my course in physical geography from the manuscript
I used as a text, which only I can read.