Merab Mamardashvili and Immanuel Kant: a dialogue on transcendental consciousness and moral responsibility

Mamardashvili always engaged in a dialogue with thinkers of the past, particularly with those philosophers whom he considered to have founded the phenomenologi- cal analysis of consciousness. He had a particular fascination for Kant. Not only did Mamardashvili devote to him a series of lectures, but he referenced Kantian themes throughout the entirety of his work. This article focuses on two of those themes. The rst is transcendental consciousness, considered as that which makes experi- ence possible without being itself reducible to experience. Consciousness is at the basis of all the di erent “forms” that make possible our experience of the world. Thinking is possible only in the context of cultural tradition, which is embedded in language. The second is individual moral responsibility. Everyone everywhere takes a stance at all times, here and now, thereby assuming the whole responsibility for their action. Mamardashvili’s dialogue with Kant leads us to consider some of the ethical problems of human civilization.