Kant’s Philosophy: Influences and Transcendental Idealism
Kant’s Life and Intellectual Context
Immanuel Kant was born in 1724 in Königsberg, Prussia, where he spent almost his entire life. He came from a middle-class family and received his education within a strict Lutheran branch known as Pietism. This upbringing instilled in him strong religious and moral values that profoundly influenced his life and philosophical works. He studied logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg and later became a university professor.
Kant lived during the 18th century, a period marked by significant scientific advancements, such as those made by Newton and Fahrenheit, aimed at improving human life. The Enlightenment was the most influential movement during Kant’s time, reflecting the period’s ideological and cultural shifts. Initially an elitist movement, it eventually spread throughout society. The Enlightenment emphasized confidence in autonomous reason and nature, seeking to move away from reliance on faith.
Kant’s philosophical development was significantly shaped by both empiricism and rationalism, two opposing philosophical schools of thought that he sought to reconcile.
Early Influences: Rationalism
In his early years, Kant was a disciple of Christian Wolff, a rationalist philosopher in the tradition of Descartes. Rationalism posited that absolute knowledge of the world could be attained solely through reason, independent of experience. Kant later critiqued this position.
Later Influences: Empiricism
During his second phase, Kant was influenced by empiricist philosophy. David Hume, an empiricist philosopher, awakened him from his “dogmatic slumber,” though Kant was not entirely persuaded. Empiricism, in contrast to rationalism, asserted that knowledge is derived solely from experience and is always subject to it.
Kant’s Philosophical Periods
Kant’s work can be divided into three periods:
- Pre-Critical Period: This includes works such as Natural History and Theory of the Heavens and Dissertatio. During this period, Kant largely accepted dogmatic philosophy.
- Critical Period: This period is defined by his major works: Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, and Critique of Judgment.
- Post-Critical Period: This includes works such as Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone.
Kant’s philosophy is known as transcendental idealism. This is because, despite establishing a priori concepts, he believed they are only applicable to experience.
Influences on Kant’s Thought
Earlier Philosophers
- Plato: Plato considered ideas to be more objectively real. However, for Kant, reality is a mental construction based on experience. Plato believed that knowledge of the world comes through ideas, asserting that what we perceive through the senses does not constitute true knowledge. Kant, in contrast, emphasized the role of sensibility.
- Aristotle: Aristotle considered substance to be real. For Kant, substance is a category, a concept within the mind. Aristotle believed that the mind could know everything, while Kant acknowledged the existence of the noumenon (the thing-in-itself).
Kant viewed the idea of God as having only a regulatory role in the world. Because it lacks empirical content, it remains a regulative ideal, prompting us to act as if God existed.
Later Philosophers
Philosophers such as Fichte and Schelling developed idealistic philosophical systems based on Kant’s concepts, emphasizing the role of spirit and human freedom. Later, in the early 20th century, Edmund Husserl developed a phenomenological philosophical system influenced by Descartes and Kant.