Pragmatic Anthropology Beyond Experimental Psychology

Although in Kant’s critical system the question of the human is posed as the ultimate main question, all of its issues are reread in light of this question. Pragmatic anthropology of Kant, distinct from the transcendental and the empirical, seeks to make philosophical concepts and achievements accessible beyond academic boundaries for a general audience. This anthropology, in contrast to the physiological, focuses on what humans as free agents construct about themselves. This study, while examining the place of anthropology within Kant’s entire system and the practical application of this knowledge for developing “public awareness” and, consequently, improving life, addresses the why and how Kant uses sources such as novels, history, and self-reflection. In this way, Kant considers human appetites and feelings and provides a substantive answer to the forms of mere formalism in his ethical system. The shift of narrative from anthropology to transcendental philosophy brings us to a thinker who first contemplates human existence in the world and with others and then delineates the transcendental realms behind empirical inquiries. Pragmatic anthropology also introduces a self-reflective, action-oriented self-understanding. This type of anthropology, in addition to describing the phenomenological order in the acquisition of experience, demonstrates how the subject is constituted by considering freedom and the continuous cultivation and development of talents, taking a significant step from empirical psychology to the ethical.