Different Philosophers, Similar Conclusions

Immanuel Kant and Augustine of Hippo were two very different men. Augustine did his writing around 400 A.D.; Kant published his most famous book in 1761. Augustine was a native of Africa’s north coast on the Mediterranean Sea; Kant lived in Germany’s northern coast on the Baltic Sea. Augustine was born a pagan and became a Christian; Kant was a Christian who became a heterodox theist. Augustine expressed himself in Latin and Greek; Kant wrote in German.

Yet both of them became know for similar philosophical viewpoints. They emphasized the limits of human reason.

It is always a temptation to imagine that any philosophical question can be answered by reason. Rarely does it happen that a philosopher has the humility to write that he has come to the limits of human reason, that it is simply beyond the power of human thought to answer the question at hand.

Those philosophers who succumb to this temptation end up going farther in their conclusion than their logic will actually allow.

Kant and Augustine are among the very few who were cautious and sober enough to draw a limit to the powers which they attribute to the human mind. Their conclusions are perhaps less exciting, less adventurous, and less fun than those philosophical books which venture onto intellectually thinner ice. But their writings seem to have a longer shelf-life than some others.

A few of Kant’s immediate followers went beyond the limits he recommended, making daring statements in their philosophies. While they were interesting and popular for a time, these men, e.g., Mr. Fichte and Mr. Schelling, are now less studied.

Augustine and Kant remain philosophical classics, in part because of their moderation: those who walk on thin ice may get the thrills, but those who stand on the more solid ground generally have longer lives.