Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was the central figure of modern European philosophy. He spent his entire life in Königsberg and was known for his pedantic punctuality.

Kant accomplished a 'Copernican revolution' in philosophy: it is not consciousness that conforms to objects, but objects that conform to the forms of our consciousness. He distinguished between phenomena and 'things in themselves' (noumena).

In ethics, Kant formulated the categorical imperative — a universal moral law: 'Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.'