Immanuel Kant's "Dreams of a Spirit-Seer", on Emanuel Swedenborg, has mystified readers since its publication in 1766 during Swedenborg's lifetime. Its unusual style and content have led to two opposing interpretations. Most Kant scholars regard the work as a sceptical attack on Swedenborg's mysticism. Others, however, believe that Kant regarded Swedenborg as a serious philosopher and visionary, that Swedenborg had a powerful influence on Kant's mature critical philosophy, and that the book both reveals Kant's profound debt to Swedenborg and conceals that debt behind the mask of irony. This unique edition includes translations of Kant's other writings on Swedenborg, as well as texts by other writers, illustrating the book's genesis and reception. "Dreams of a Spirit-Seer" provides all the documents one needs to assess Kant's most mysterious work.

Author Biography

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was an influential eighteenth-century Germany philosopher. He was one of the last in a line of Enlightenment philosophers who were primarily concerned the philosophy of knowledge, although he was vastly influential in many areas of philosophy. His most famous work was the Critique of Pure Reason, an investigation into the limits and structure of reason itself. He studied at the University of Koenigsburg, where he later spent his career as a lecturer.