SEARCHING FOR BALANCE 1

Rationalists We cannot trust our senses. We can know things only through reason. Knowledge a priori. Rene Descartes Baruch Spinoza Gottfried Leibniz 2

Empiricists Meaningful knowledge can be acquired only through our senses. Knowledge a posteriori. John Locke George Berkeley David Hume 3

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Accepted some of Hume’s ideas and challenged others. He agreed that knowledge must begin with sense experience – but it does not end there. Knowledge gained through our senses forms the content of our knowledge. There are categories built into our minds that help to structure that knowledge.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) These categories are a priori concepts in our minds. Space, time – patterns of perception Everything we sense is perceived through these two categories. 6

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) A second level of perception includes the categories of quantity, quality, relation, and modality. These are “hardwired” into the brain and they provide a context for incoming data. We recognize cause and effect because of the way our brains are wired. 7

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Kant proposed two worlds: Noumenal – things in themselves. Phenomenal – How things appear. We can know things only as they appear to us (phenomena) We can never know things as they are in themselves (noumena). 8

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Human beings are part of two worlds: Phenomenal world – we are subject to the laws of nature. Noumenal world – We have a sense of oughtness, moral law, which conforms to a higher reality. 9

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) “Of two things I am certain: the starry heavens above, and the moral law within.” 10

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Kant attacked the traditional arguments for God. He is not an object in time and space, so one cannot prove or disprove him. “I have found it necessary to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith.” 11

Ethics: Categorical Imperative Immanuel Kant 1724 - 1804 Ethics: Categorical Imperative One must act in such a way as to desire his or her actions to become universal laws binding on everyone. Is it ok for everyone to act the same way?

Categorical Imperative Immanuel Kant 1724 - 1804 Ethics: Categorical Imperative Always treat people as ends in themselves, never as a means to an end. Never value a person only because they are a way of achieving something else.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Summary: Kant synthesized rationalism and empiricism. Empiricism is correct in that the raw data of knowledge comes through our senses. Yet rationalism is partially correct in that the form of knowledge is innate, supplied by the mind. 14

Immanuel Kant 1724-1804 Nationality: Prussian Group Alliances: "Terrible" Transcendental Idealists "Destructive" Deontologists "Contemptible" Constructivists AKA: The Punctual Prussian I've Fallen and I Kant Get Up The Greatest Modern Philosopher Powers: follows rules well Weaknesses: sometimes seen as overly critical Notes: This figure is, of course, only the phenomenal Kant toy. The deluxe version, Noumenal Self® Kant, is available only on special order and costs $339.95 (plus tax and S&H). The reader may wonder, "Why is Kant blue with red tiger stripes?" Well, why twelve categories? I don't know. It was decided that a toy representing as important a philosopher as Kant ought to be unique in some way, that there ought to be some kind of toyly manifestation of his philosophical greatness. Blue with red tiger stripes was deemed sufficiently bad ass.