KANT - THE ANSWERS

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>KANT</FONT><BR> THE CRITIC</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>All is Revealed</B></FONT><P> <BLOCKQUOTE>"Appearances are to be regarded as being, one and all, representations only, not things-in-themselves... time and space are therefore only sensible forms of our intuition, not determinations as existing by themselves..."<P> ("Critique of Pure Reason", A xi)</BLOCKQUOTE> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON</B></FONT><BR> <A HREF="../t06/t06f13.html" TARGET="_top">Hume's</A> problem, and Kant's inspiration, was whether the concept of causal connection could be established by reason alone, independently of experience. Hume concluded that reason was deluded in its inference of causal connection and that the concept was "nothing but the bastard child of imagination impregnated by experience". In response, Kant's central concern was knowledge that could be accepted as universal and necessary and based on reason. His argument relies on the identification of what he terms <A HREF="../t03/g003.html" TARGET="_top">a priori</A> concepts, that is concepts that are logically prior to experience. These are not only independent of experience, they are a necessary condition of experience, and are universal in that they are part of the structure of all human minds. These he terms categories.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CATEGORIES</B></FONT><BR> To Kant knowledge is a joint production of the external world and the mind. Experience provides the content for judgement; mind provides the organizing structures, the categories of understanding. These are a priori concepts such as quantity, quality, relation and modality. Each acts on content provided by material sensation, providing the necessary structure and order within the framework of space and time. To Kant, space and time are also constructs of the mind. They are part of the way the mind perceives the external world, part of our way of understanding the external world, not part of the external world itself. Knowledge is pre-structured through the filter of the mind.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>TRANSCENDENTALISM</B></FONT><BR> Kant's philosophy distinguishes between the world as perceived and its phenomena and another level of reality which is beyond our knowledge but is a precondition for experience. The objects of the latter are designated as noumena or things-in-themselves. Kant's arguments in regards to this are not entirely consistent. Sometimes the <A HREF="../t03/g053.html" TARGET="_top">transcendental</A> realm and its contents are conceived of as real but unknowable; at other times this is simply a way of emphasizing that our knowledge is limited to world of phenomena. Concepts like time and space are seen as empirically real since they are measurable, but transcendentally ideal since they have no reality outside of man's psyche.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY </B></FONT><BR> Kant extended his exploration of the human process of thinking to consider systems of belief, morality and aesthetics as well as the laws of science and mathematics. The aim of his various <I>Critiques</I> is a "critical analysis of the power of reason itself, touching that whole class of knowledge which it may strive after unassisted by experience". Even institutions like Church and State should be subject to the scrutiny of reason. Should religion or law seek exemption from critical examination they then "cannot claim the sincere respect which reason accords only to that which has been able to sustain the test of free and open examination." Kant's aim was not to destroy their credibility; rather the opposite. But this was not always understood. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>