I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONJECTURAL BEGINNING OF HUMAN HISTORY

I would like to discuss the philosophical reinterpretation of the biblical stories in Kant’s philosophy of history by exploring his interpretation of the Genesis from the perspective of the conlict between natural instinct and human reason. It is widely known that Kant liked reading Rousseau’s works, Emile, he Social Contract etc. and that he was inluenced by them in his anthropology, philosophy of law and philosophy of education. However, Kant’s struggle with Rousseau’s philosophy of history, especially in his interpretation of the Genesis in the essay Conjectural Beginning of Human History [Muthmaßlicher Anfang der Menschengeschichte] of 1786, has rarely been investigated. Yet I argue that Rousseau’s concept of the transition from the natural state into the state of society inluenced Kant’s interpretation of the Genesis and that the emergence of a consciousness of time plays an important role in the civilization process in Kant’s philosophy of history. I want to begin (1) by analyzing the signiicance of Kant’s Conjectural Beginning of Human History and will then attempt (2) to explain, step by step, the implementation of reason, as opposed to instinct