Kant’s Philosophy: Bridging Empiricism and Rationalism
Kant: Bridging Empiricism and Rationalism
Kant, the 18th-century philosopher, found himself positioned between two opposing theories. On one hand, empiricism asserts that all knowledge originates from experience and denies the existence of innate ideas. On the other hand, rationalism claims that knowledge can be derived solely from reason and that innate ideas exist. Kant resolved this contradiction by stating that we need both faculties: the senses and reason. Through our senses, objects are given to us, and through reason, we think about them. Kant’s innovative proposal, known as criticism, is the existence of a priori structures in our knowledge. These structures resemble Descartes’ innate ideas, as they do not come from experience. However, they are not entitled to their own content but are inherent to human knowledge. They are purely formal, and their function is to shape all the information provided by experience.
Substance or Object
Substance or object refers to everything we see or believe, how we conceive a unit that differs from the rest of the objects. The a priori structures are universal and necessary. It is impossible to think without having perceptions, and these structures are the same in all human beings. There are two types of a priori structures:
- A priori structures of sensibility, called pure intuitions, are space and time.
- A priori structures of understanding are more numerous and are called categories or pure concepts. Two examples are the categories of substance and the relationship between cause and effect.
For knowledge, we need both a priori structures and the contents or subject matter that the object itself provides through experience. Therefore, Kant states that “our intuitions without concepts are blind, and our concepts without intuitions are empty.”
Cause and Effect Relationship: Phenomenon and Noumenon
Kant distinguishes between phenomenon and noumenon. The phenomenon is the object made up of two elements: the matter (coming from the object itself or noumenon) and the form (from the a priori structures). The noumenon is the object independent of our knowledge (the object itself). It is impossible to know it since when we perceive or think about any object, we apply a priori structures. Everything we know is a phenomenon. If we cannot know the noumenon, how can we affirm that it exists? Because there is a component in every phenomenon (matter) that does not come from ourselves but from outside, from the object or noumenon.
Comparison with Locke, Descartes, and Hume
Kant believed in a critical approach that combined reason and experience, which does not coincide with any other author. Locke, an empiricist, believed that knowledge comes from experience. Descartes believed it comes from reason. Hume, a radical empiricist, also believed it comes from experience. Regarding the object-representation relationship, Kant states that there is an unknown relationship, similar to Descartes and Hume. Locke, instead, says that representations are a copy of the object. On the issue of whether there are innate ideas, Kant is 50% aligned, as he thinks there are innate ideas (a priori structures), while Descartes fully agrees, and Hume and Locke disagree. Kant has no concept of truth, but Locke says that ideas are true when they resemble the object itself. Descartes believes that innate ideas and facts are always well-constructed, and Hume reduces ideas to probable knowledge or belief.