"Se mai vi è una qualche scienza di cui l'uomo abbia bisogno...". Kant e la filosofia come modo di vita

This chapter argues that Kant belongs to the tradition of “philosophy as a way of life”, in the manner that this is currently conceived of in international scholarship in the wake of Pierre Hadot’s work. Contrary to expectations as well as die-hard scholarly clichés, Kant in fact embodies both fundamental characteristics of this paradigm, i.e., the adoption of a practical, per- and transformative metaphilosophy, and the elaboration of specific spiritual exercises that aim to enact a radical change of perspective on oneself, the others and the world. Acknowledging this dual aspect enables us to do justice to Kant’s philosophy, which can hence be reassessed not as a body of abstract, though certainly sophisticated doctrines, but rather as an attempt to help the human being work on themselves with a view to realizing their vocation.