Immanuel Kant spent practically his whole life in Königsberg, famous for his methodical routine. Even so, he revolutionized philosophy by proposing that the mind organizes experience, uniting rationalism and empiricism. He also created an ethics based on duty and the dignity of each person, which still underlies the idea of human rights.
Core ideas
We know things only as they appear to us, never as they are in themselves
Act only according to rules you would accept as valid for everyone
Persons are ends in themselves and can never be treated merely as means
The tradition: Transcendental idealism
Transcendental idealism is the thesis that the world we know is shaped by the structures of the mind itself, such as space and time. Kant created this view to explain how secure knowledge is possible.
