Immanuel Kant
Kant published a second edition of the "Critique of Pure Reason" ("Kritik der reinen Vernunft") in 1787, heavily revising the first parts of the book. Most of his subsequent work focused on other areas of philosophy. He continued to develop his moral philosophy, notably in 1788's "Critique of Practical Reason" (known as the second "Critique") and 1797's "Metaphysics of Morals". The 1790 "Critique of Judgment" (the third "Critique") applied the Kantian system to aesthetics and teleology. It was in this critique where Kant wrote one of his most popular statements, ""it is absurd to hope that another Newton will arise in the future who will make comprehensible to us the production of a blade of grass according to natural laws"".
Immanuel Kant
Kant was born on April 22, 1724 into a Prussian German family of Lutheran Protestant faith in Königsberg, East Prussia. Baptized 'Emanuel', he later changed his name to 'Immanuel' after learning Hebrew. He was brought up in a Pietist household that stressed religious devotion, humility, and a literal interpretation of the Bible. His education was strict, punitive and disciplinary, and focused on Latin and religious instruction over mathematics and science. Kant maintained Christian ideals for some time, but struggled to reconcile the faith with his belief in science. In his "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals", he reveals a belief in immortality as the necessary condition of humanity's approach to the highest morality possible. However, as Kant was skeptical about some of the arguments used prior to him in defence of theism and maintained that human understanding is limited and can never attain knowledge about God or the soul, various commentators have labelled him a philosophical agnostic.