KANT IN HONG KONG
KANT IN HONG KONG: WALKING, THINKING, AND THE CITY
GRAY KOCHHAR LINDGREN
In Kant in Hong Kong travel, philosophy, and the city weave through one another. The book brings Immanuel Kant – famous for the regularity of his walks in his hometown of Königsberg – into the swarming streets of the hypermodern city and carries everyday urban experience into the labyrinthine texts of Kant’s critical idealism. It lets the empirical and the transcendental play with one another in Kowloon, Hung Hom, Sheung Wan, and Admiralty as we move up and down the travelator between Queen’s Road Central and the Mid-Levels or take the bus to the beach at Shek-O.
Freedom and knowledge swirl through the thick incense in the Temple of Tin Hau. When Kant comes to visit, walking, thinking, and the city illuminate one another more brightly than the colored lights of the nightly laser shows illuminate the harbor-front skyline of Hong Kong.
6×9” | B&W | 130 pp
ISBN 978-8792633262
CATEGORY
Philosophy
EDITION
Standard paperback 2014 | $15
NOTE
Essays
REVIEWS
Opening this book took me through a time warp that allowed me to feel that I was actually walking along with Immanuel Kant, while at the same time I felt that I was walking the streets of modern day Hong Kong. We start out at the Stanley Ho Sports Complex, and the question “What forms the whole?” We find Kant sitting at the swimming pool, dressed in his Prussian suit. I loved the mention of Pacific Coffee Company primarily because I love everything to do with coffee! It is a cafe on Wellington Street, surrounded by music and activity. Here we read about how the past infuses the present, and the palace of memory. Gentle words that will bring back memories for each and every reader. Throughout this book we experience Hong Kong through all of our senses. We contemplate Kant and his philosophy, and how it applies to the here and now. Through this little walking tour (although we are not walking all of the time), we experience the past, the present, and the future in myriad ways. — BONNIE CEHOVET, Amazon
