The first Catalan version of the ‘Critique of Pure Reason’, published by UB Editions, wins the UNE prize for the best translation

Critique of Pure Reason is the text of a revolution that affects our understanding of our capacity to know, and thus also our capacity to act and to hope. In this work, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) explores in detail the limits of our cognitive faculties and explains why we cannot simply stay within them, but are made in such a way that going beyond them becomes an ever-present challenge — because this going beyond takes us into territories in which reason cannot establish itself. 

UB Editions published the first Catalan translation of the Critique, annotated by the translator Miquel Montserrat Capella, to mark the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth. The edition, edited by Salvi Turró and Josep Monserrat, includes notes comparing the two versions of the text (1781 and 1787) that the Prussian philosopher published and revised. 

The jury of the 28th National University Publishing Awards, made up of independent personalities from the cultural sector, has recognized the best works published in 2024 by universities and research centres throughout Spain, from among more than 230 candidates. According to the verdict, Critique of Pure Reason has been awarded because it is “the first translation into Catalan of a classic that underpins contemporary thought, and which also gives visibility to the work of a great expert such as Miquel Montserrat Capella”. 

The members of the jury were Nuria Azancot, editor-in-chief of El Cultural (El Español); Eva Catalán, editor of the “Education” section of The Conversation; Laura Revuelta, cultural journalist; Eva Orúe, director of the Madrid Book Fair, and Jorge Corrales, director general of the Spanish Centre for Reprographic Rights (CEDRO). 

Critique of Pure Reason is part of the Magna Series of the Filosofia UB collection, directed by Josep Monserrat. The collection is dedicated to making contributions in Catalan to contemporary thought, fostering the recovery and memory of necessary references and, in the case of the Magna Series, presenting good translations of some of the most important universal philosophical works. The other titles in the series are Thomas Hobbes’ On Man. Elements of Philosophy: Second Section, and Edmund Husserl’s Cartesian Meditations. An Introduction to Phenomenology. 

Miquel Montserrat Capella (1960-2024), holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Barcelona. He devoted the period from 2017 to 2023 to the translation of this major work of philosophy. After a teaching and research stay at Yale University (1989-1992), he taught philosophy at secondary school level and lectured at the UB and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Throughout his career he focused both on Kantian studies and on the relationship between philosophy, biology, science and medicine.