On Kant's Concept Of Person

‘Person' is a very important concept in the field of humanities and social sciences.In philosophical contexts,by ‘person' one often refers to the concept of‘Self'.More exactly,it is the Self,which can be conscious of its numerical identity in different times.From Locke onwards,modern philosophers have explored this concept extensively.But they have limited themselves within the realm of theoretical philosophy in discussing the concept of person and hence have encountered difficulties at different levels.Kant has explored the deep reasons of these difficulties and tried to construct the theory of person from the practical dimension.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Kant transforms the concept of person from the theoretical dimension to the practical dimension.Firstly,the concept of person in Kant's theoretical philosophy will be discussed.We will review the theories of person in Locke,Leibniz and Hume's philosophies.By analyzing of the third paralogism in Kritik der reinen Vernunft,we intend to show Kant's critique of these philosophers.Kant's critique contains two aspects(which are also two constituent elements of person).The first aspect concerns how‘Pers?nlichkeit' or the ‘numerical identity' of person should be understood.Kant shows that the theoretical ‘numerical identity' can only be the ‘unity of the transcendental apperception'.The other aspect is the problem of the existence of Self in the theoretical dimension.Kant denies the existence of ‘the thinking Self'(the soul).The tension underlying the concept of personality in Kant's philosophy has led to disagreements over his theory of person in different academic circles.Through differentiating and analyzing the concepts of personality and person,we show that Kant does not accept any kinds of theory of person in the theoretical philosophy.Then we discuss how the concept of person can transform from theoretical to practical dimension.Combining our understanding of self-being and self-consciousness in the field of theoretical philosophy,we expound the meaning ofthe practical self-being and practical self-consciousness.We show the possibility and necessity of the turn from theoretical to practical.We will particularly analyze how the two elements of person,in other words,personality and self-existence(self-determination)turn from the theoretical to the practical dimension and will establish the inner correlation of them in the two dimensions.We explain why personality understood in the sense of the unity of the transcendental apperception in theoretical philosophy can be transformed into the concept of freedom in the practical philosophy.Moreover,we explain why freedom can be understood in terms of personality,and clarify the necessity and sufficiency of the practical using of personality.We summarize Kant's epistemology and emphasize another type of knowledge,namely rational knowledge.Then in particular,we analyze the forms of expression and characteristics of practical rational knowledge.On this basis,we interpret the turn of self-determination from theoretical to practical dimension.Lastly,we discuss the construction of person in practical dimension.Kant has identified two kinds of practical knowledge: the ground of the possible imperative and the imperative which regards action as its object.These two kinds of practical knowledge refer to the two aspects of the practical person,namely the person as‘homo noumenon' and the person simultaneously existing in the empirical world.By interpreting these two components of person in the practical dimension,we show the first aspect of the practical person and explain how the ‘homo noumenon' can serve as the metaphysical basis of the real construction of the theory of practical person.Based on the practical metaphysical person,the analysis of the elements of person and the comparison with the paralogism of personality in the theoretical philosophy,we demonstrate how Kant overcomes the same paralogism in practical philosophy,thereby completing his construction of the theory of person in the practical dimension.