Kant’s Critique of Reason and Enlightenment
Kant’s Critique of Reason
A Priori and A Posteriori Knowledge
Kant critiqued theoretical reason to demonstrate the nature of scientific knowledge as a priori. He argued that scientific knowledge consists of universal and necessary judgments that increase awareness. There are two types of judgments:
- Analytical judgments: The predicate is identical to the subject, but they do not add to knowledge (e.g., all bodies are extensive).
- Synthetic judgments: The predicate is not included in the subject and adds to knowledge, but they are not universal or necessary (e.g., the table is red).
Kant explained that scientific knowledge is comprised of synthetic a priori judgments because they provide information and are both universal and necessary. While all our knowledge begins with experience, not all of it originates from experience.
Intuition and Understanding
Objects are given to us through the senses, producing insights. These insights can be:
- Empirical a posteriori: Derived from experience.
- Pure intuitions a priori: Not derived from experience but are a condition of possibility of experience. These include space and time.
Space is a pure intuition, not a concept. It is singular and allows for the simultaneity of objects. Time is another pure intuition, a condition of all inner experience. These pure intuitions make geometry and arithmetic possible as sciences.
Intuitions are necessary but not sufficient for knowledge. We also need understanding, which produces concepts and judgments. Concepts can be:
- Pure a priori: Cannot be induced from reality but are deduced.
- Empirical a posteriori: Taken from one or more empirical intuitions, brought under a pure concept, and producing a new empirical concept.
Combining pure intuitions and concepts results in pure knowledge expressed in synthetic a priori judgments. Physics is possible as a science because it utilizes synthetic a priori judgments, referring to the phenomenal world of experience and supported by the categories of cause and effect. These categories apply only to phenomena (objects of experience), while transcendental ideas like the soul, world, and God are noumena (things we can only think about, not know).
Kant and the Enlightenment
Kant is considered a key Enlightenment philosopher. The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement originating in 17th-century England and flourishing in 18th-century France and Germany, emphasized reason and individual autonomy. Kant defined it as “man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.” Key Enlightenment tenets include:
- Reason as the central human characteristic.
- Rejection of tradition and authority in favor of combating prejudice.
- A universal concept of humanity, emphasizing equality and freedom.
- Belief in human progress and perfectibility.
- Emphasis on science and its potential to improve human life.
- Political reforms advocating for individual rights and republicanism.
Despite its ideals, the Enlightenment also faced challenges, including the excesses of the French Revolution, which highlighted the potential dangers of unchecked reason. As Kant noted, “the sleep of reason produces monsters.”