Schleiermacher reviewed Kant’s Pragmatic Anthropology for the journal Athenaeum in 1799. Below the surface of a harsh and disrespectful tone, the review has a remarkable philosophical value. As a consequence of his idea of human nature, Kant is charged by Schleiermacher of “realism”. Ironically, Schleiermacher suggests that the work, with its popular style, is more of a Kantology than of an anthropology: that is, it elevates the daily habits and idiosyncrasies of the author to an alleged empirical description of the human being. With this, Schleiermacher anticipates a new style in philosophy, followed by many subsequent critics of philosophical anthropology.
