Kant: A Revolution in Thinking
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season416 pages, about 8 hours: the length of 1.3 typical books on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbThe book covers Kant’s politics and ethics first and holds the Critique of Pure Reason for the final chapters.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesOne reviewer likens Kant’s career to Heidegger’s, whose Being and Time is on the shelf at 656 pages.
The case for it
on the chapters
“with chapters devoted to Kant’s ideas on education, revolution, wit, science, and even extraterrestrials”
Adam Kirsch · The New Yorker, 2025 on Kant’s life and ideas
“provides a vivid and accessible account of Kant’s ideas, life, and times”
G. John Ikenberry · Foreign Affairs, 2025 on Kant himself
“has humanised a man often dismissed as an odd hermit and a plodding pedant”
Aaron Kyereh-Mireku · Open Letters Review, 2025 on the introduction
“This is an extremely well-written and interesting introduction to the life and work”
a Substack review
The case against
on Kant’s legacy
“The main weakness of Willaschek’s book is that he fails to consider this particular downside”
Edward Feser · Claremont Review of Books, 2026 on the chapter order
“is also unusual in not beginning his account of Kant’s philosophy with his epistemology”
Edward Feser · Claremont Review of Books, 2026 on Kant’s friendships
“we hear relatively little about their exchanges or mutual influence.”
Elizabeth Stice · Orange Blossom Ordinary, 2025 on the structure
“it was much too repetitive; it read more like a series of independent blog posts”
a Substack review
