Kant’s Philosophy: Overcoming Rationalism and Empiricism in the Age of Reason
Immanuel Kant and the Age of Enlightenment (1724–1804)
Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 and died in 1804. His century saw the development of the Enlightenment (Luces).
The 18th Century: Peace, Industry, and Social Change
From a historical standpoint, the 18th century is presented as a century of peace in Europe, situated between the religious wars of the 17th century and the conflicts of the 19th century. The economy, fundamentally based on agriculture, began its revolutionary shift with the Industrial Revolution starting in Great Britain around 1750. The stratified society of the Old Regime entered into crisis because the bourgeoisie exerted pressure on the nobility and the clergy. Consequently, Enlightened Despotism emerged.
The Enlightenment Imperative: Sapere Aude
The Enlightenment was defined by Kant’s imperative: Sapere Aude (Dare to Know). The Enlightenment represented a project of emancipation for humanity from all instances that oppressed reason, basing this project on will. The focus was on furthering knowledge, which crystallized in the Encyclopedia. The biggest obstacle the Enlightenment sought to overcome was ignorance, stemming from a lack of culture and political manipulation.
The Enlightenment aimed not only to illuminate intelligence but also to transform society under a legal system based on reason and liberty. This aspiration culminated in the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Enlightened consciousness was led by philosophers who shaped public opinion.
Philosophical Shifts Leading to Kant
The Crisis of Classical Metaphysics
18th-century philosophy witnessed the bankruptcy of the rationalist version of classical metaphysics, including thinkers like Descartes and Wolf, who claimed to know the soul, the world, and God through innate ideas of reason.
The Rise of Empiricism (Locke and Hume)
This bankruptcy led to empirical philosophy, championed by Locke and Hume, who denied the existence of innate ideas, asserting that all ideas originate in experience.
Kant’s Critical Philosophy
Overcoming Rationalism and Empiricism
Kant’s philosophy is presented as an overcoming of these two positions. Kant abandoned metaphysics’ claims to go beyond the limits of experience, adapting philosophy to our finite knowledge.
Philosophy’s Role in Public Opinion
Kant conveyed his philosophy in a cosmic sense, open to society, functioning to help rationalize public opinion through collective criticism across all fields.
Cartesian Methodological Doubt
The Pursuit of Radical Foundation
Methodological doubt is the essence of Cartesian philosophy, aiming at the radical foundation of knowledge by rejecting as inadequate all beliefs that may arise from doubt. The practice of methodological doubt calls into question the value of the senses, but also deductive reason. The physical world, the external body itself, certainly does not withstand this methodical doubt.
The Discovery of the Cogito
This method was used by Descartes for the discovery of the cogito, a concept that expresses, on the one hand, the first, whole, and absolutely true statement: “I think, therefore I am,” and secondly, the particular truth concerned: the self-conscious mind.
Mind-Body Dualism (Res Cogitans vs. Res Extensa)
Methodological doubt, especially Descartes’ criticism of the senses, helped him defend the intangible nature of the mind: all bodies are doubtful (including one’s own), but the mind itself is not. Therefore, the mind must consist of a substance different from physical reality: minds are thinking substance (res cogitans), and bodies are extended substance (res extensa).