Kant’s Rationalism, Empiricism, and Critique
ITEM 12
Rationalism, Empiricism, and Criticism
In Germany, a rationalist philosophical current known as the rationalist school, led by Wolf, aimed to establish pure rational knowledge about everything. This school divided knowledge into theoretical and practical philosophy, further subdividing metaphysics into general and special metaphysics. Kant initially adhered to the rationalist school’s theories until he recognized the inherent dogmatism. However, he also didn’t simply follow Hume.
Kant’s Answer: The Critique
To avoid rationalist dogmatism and Humean skepticism, Kant analyzed reason’s capabilities and limitations, calling it the critique of reason. He sought to answer three questions: What can I know? What should I do? What can I expect?
What Can I Know? Critique of Pure Reason
The Role of Judgments in Knowledge
The Judgments: Kant explores what we can know in the Critique of Pure Reason, examining whether math, physics, and metaphysics are sciences. He begins by analyzing knowledge’s elements, concluding that knowledge is primarily composed of judgments. A judgment is any relationship of subject and predicate in the form “S is P.”
Classification of Judgments:
- Analytical Judgments: The predicate is included in the subject, making them purely formal (e.g., “A bachelor is unmarried”). These judgments are always true, following the law of non-contradiction, expressing what Hume called relations of ideas.
- Synthetic Judgments: The predicate is not included in the subject (e.g., “The wall is white”). Their truth relies on experience, linking different things, expressing what Hume called knowledge of facts.
- A Priori Judgments: Obtained outside experience, independent of experience for their truth value, making them universal and necessary.
- A Posteriori Judgments: Obtained subsequent to experience, thus not universal or necessary.
Kant believed these four types reduce to two: analytical and synthetic judgments.
What Should I Do? Critique of Practical Reason
The Kantian Conception of Morality
Being and Duty: Reason has theoretical and practical uses. The practical use is moral, guiding behavior and will, focusing on duty rather than being.
Imperatives and Moral Norms:
- Hypothetical Imperatives: Order something as a means to an end (e.g., Aristotle’s prudence for happiness, Epicurus’ avoidance of unnatural desires). Their validity is conditional.
- Categorical Imperatives: Order something as an absolute end (e.g., “Do not steal”). This requirement is unconditional and stands on its own.
Kant argued that hypothetical imperatives are not valid for expressing moral standards because their validity is conditional and based on experience. Moral norms must be expressed through categorical imperatives, which are unconditional and not based on empirical findings.