What is the true meaning of Kant’s statement “One cannot learn philosophy…one can only learn to philosophize”?

Abstract

Hegel considered absurd the claim to learn to philosophize, rejecting learning philosophy. In response to this objection, it is shown that Kant's warning does not imply fostering the development of philosophical skills at the expense of the historical, systematic, and problem-based content of philosophy. To this end, we will analyze the three passages in Kant's public corpus where the formula that serves as our title is stated: the Announcement to his students regarding his winter courses between 1765 and 1766, excerpts from the second part of Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787), and the third section of the Logic lectures published in 1800. The concise thesis presented here is that, for Kant, the teacher can only awaken in the student the philosophical capacity to think for himself based on existing philosophical essays, if he avoids imparting a repetitive and dogmatic teaching of the philosophical tradition. Philosophical training is not restricted to the academic study of philosophical systems but rather seeks to educate in the values ​​that guide human existence in the world.