Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University is known as one of the centers of Kant studies in Russia. Philosophic heritage of Kant has been the object of thorough research at the university since late 1960s. Based on this tradition in 2008 a special scientific research unit – Kant Institute – was established. The purpose of Kant Institute is to conduct systematic research of Kant’s philosophy and its cultural context as well to use the results of this research in educational programs and other cultural and educational activities. In order to fulfill this purpose the following tasks are allocated:

  • Systematic study of Kant’s philosophy.
  • Translation of Kant’s untranslated texts into Russian and improvement of the existing translations.
  • Study of the cultural context of Kant’s philosophy with the emphasis on the age of Enlightment.
  • Updating and developing innovative educational programs in philosophy and study of the Enlightment culture, including online courses in Kant’s philosophy and its cultural context.
  • Publishing “Kantovskij Sbornik”, the leading publication on Kant studies in Russia.
  • Creating a database on Kant’s philosophy in Russia.

Within its main activity Kant Institute researches today’s relevance of Kant’s philosophy and the perception of it in various cultures, seeks to utilize the ideas and statements of his philosophy as solutions for the development of society, studies argumentation in his works and identifies foundations of cultures as a result of comparative analysis using argumentation theory methods. One of the chief results of Kant Institute’s activity is publication of Kant’s works, as well as articles, monographs and reviews devoted to Kant’s philosophic heritage.