Immanuel Kant: Philosophy, Metaphysics, and the Limits of Reason
Immanuel Kant: A Revolutionary Thinker
Early Life and Influences
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was born in Königsberg. He was a philosopher of the Enlightenment, a period in which reason was seen as a faculty that developed through experience in order to transform reality. This era emphasized critical and self-analytical abilities. Kant believed that during this enlightened stage, individuals would leave behind their intellectual immaturity and begin to think for themselves. Initially, Kant was a rationalist. However, after awakening from his “dogmatic slumber” thanks to David Hume, he realized the need to analyze and critique reason to understand its limitations. This realization led him to oppose the dogmatic rationalism that believed in the unlimited power of reason to know. His most representative work is the Critique of Pure Reason.
The Problem of Metaphysics
Kant’s main concern was that metaphysics had not found the sure path of science, despite dealing with the most important matters of human beings. Other fields, such as logic, had always been concerned with the formal structure of reason. Mathematics and physics, although initially based on experience, eventually found the sure path of science through a model of changes carried out by an individual in a single trial, as Kant indicates. Kant intended to do the same in metaphysics. He also recognized that both mathematics and theoretical physics are a priori.
The Copernican Revolution in Philosophy
Following the objectivist model available until then, in which the object determines the subject, it is impossible to explain a priori knowledge. If metaphysics were knowledge, it would be a priori. Therefore, Kant, as Copernicus did, proposed a new model, a “Copernican Revolution” in philosophy. According to this model, the subject determines the object, thereby explaining a priori knowledge. A priori knowledge is knowledge that the subject possesses prior to experience. It is universal and necessary, residing in the understanding (categories) and sensibility (space and time). Within the categories of understanding, causality is something that allows Kant to critique Hume’s view of cause as not being a valid idea.
Phenomenon and Noumenon
Even after performing the “Copernican Revolution,” Kant could not establish metaphysics as a science because the limit of knowledge is experience, and the empirical object of study in metaphysics is not objective. Kant differentiated between the phenomenon, which can be known through experience, and the noumenon, or “thing-in-itself,” which is unconditioned and cannot be known by experience but can be thought, as is the case with metaphysics.
Theoretical and Practical Uses of Reason
To give metaphysics a decent position, Kant distinguished between the theoretical use of reason, which cannot surpass the limits of experience, and the practical use of reason, which goes beyond the bounds of experience and allows us to think of the noumenon in metaphysical objects. Both applications are equally important. The difference between theoretical use, which affects the phenomenon, and practical use, which affects the noumenon, is that the principle of causality can only be applied to phenomena. Therefore, while we might not know metaphysical objects, we can think about them.
The Positive Outcome of Kant’s Critique
Kant shows that although the result of the “Copernican Revolution” might seem negative for metaphysics, it is positive. If the difference between theoretical and practical use had not been made, and it was maintained that the limit of knowledge is experience, metaphysics would disappear. However, the difference between the two applications allows the theoretical use to be limited to phenomena and experience, while not limiting the practical use, which allows us to think about the noumenon and accept the existence of metaphysics.
Transcendental Philosophy and the Future of Metaphysics
Kant’s philosophy is transcendental because it examines the conditions of possibility of a priori knowledge. The only negative effect of the new model is, as stated in the text, on scholasticism because schools want to be the sole source of truth. Kant argues that metaphysics will always have a place in the future as it deals with fundamental questions of human beings. He explains that philosophy should try to remove the influence of rationalism in metaphysics, as dogmatic metaphysics is based on the unlimited power of reason to know. Instead, Kant advocates for a critical metaphysics, where reason is able to analyze itself in order to know its limits.
Dogmatism vs. Dogmatic Rigor
Kant also differentiates between dogmatism, which is the way of working of rationalism that does not criticize the ability of reason, and dogmatic rigor, which is necessary to undertake a demanding and strict review of reason. This is especially necessary in the case of metaphysics because it works entirely a priori.
Kant’s Admiration for Wolff
In the text, Kant shows his admiration for Christian Wolff, who, despite being a dogmatic rationalist philosopher, conducted his studies in a totally methodical and orderly manner. Kant even apologizes, stating that Wolff would have made the same criticism of reason that he did if not for the dogmatic way of thinking of his time.