On the 17th of March, Dr. Wang Shizhong from Nankai University presented a lecture on “The Kantian Reference in the Construction of Political Philosophy”. Dr. Wang tried to understand philosophy as an art of constraining human desire and leaving space for the good, the absolute, the sacred and the just things. He presented an alternative interpretation of the ideas of nature and necessity, autonomy and heteronomy, and morality and religion in Kant’s philosophy, and compared this interpretation with Marx’s construction of political philosophy, which started from the critique of political economy. According to Dr. Wang, we could understand Capital with the reference of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Kant’s critique of pure reason and Marx’s critique of political economy shared not only the common name of “critique”, but also the same value orientation and pursuit of ideals. Kant’s change of interest from theoretical reason to practical reason could be seen as parallel to Marx’s change of focus, e.g., from the critique of political economy to the construction of political philosophy. After the lecture, Dr Wang communicated with the students on relevant issues.
