Kant’s Revolution in Metaphysics and Knowledge
Summary
The analyzed text discusses Kant’s metaphysics and the possibility of its foundation. Kant claims that metaphysics, despite being the basis of all sciences, the first to appear, and potentially the last to be lost, cannot be substantiated or proven using available rational scientific methods. All metaphysical demonstrations must be made a priori and therefore can be misleading. To address this problem, Kant reverses the situation: he makes objects conform to the subject, meaning reality fits human understanding.
Analysis of Kant’s Metaphysics
The text is part of the Critique of Pure Reason, one of Kant’s most important works, which examines the nature, role, and limits of human reason. The central problem is the rational foundation of metaphysics. Metaphysics, despite being considered the mother of all sciences, the oldest, and potentially the only one to survive if others cease to exist, has proven very difficult to establish using rational and objective methods like those found in natural sciences or mathematics. According to Kant, metaphysics relies on a priori concepts that lack universal validity and are often derived through simple concepts and guesswork. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as valid knowledge.
Kant concludes that previous attempts to ground metaphysical knowledge have failed. He proposes what is known as the ‘Copernican Revolution’ in philosophy: instead of the subject conforming to the object, the subject imposes structure onto the object. Reality, therefore, fits the human way of knowing. This idea is known as transcendental idealism and represents a synthesis between rationalism and empiricism.
Kant concludes that objects of experience possess a priori structures, rules we know before encountering the object itself, which apply to all objects of nature.
Historical and Philosophical Context
Immanuel Kant lived in the 18th century and rarely left his hometown of Königsberg in East Prussia. Still, he was heavily influenced by the prevailing thought of the time: the Enlightenment.
The Prussian state during Kant’s time corresponds roughly to parts of modern-day Germany and surrounding areas. However, at that time, the region was part of the Holy Roman Empire, divided into several states. The Kingdom of Prussia was the most powerful among them, gradually gaining territory and economic prosperity. When Napoleon came to power in France, Prussia was invaded. This event aroused national sentiment and contributed to the later German reunification. This revival of national consciousness also influenced Kant and, later, 19th-century Romantic thinkers.
Born into a modest family, Kant was educated in Pietism. In 1740, he entered the University of Königsberg, studying figures like Wolff and Newton. A few years later, he became a professor at the same university. From the beginning of his teaching career, he distanced himself from Wolff’s rationalist theories. Reading the works of Hume and Rousseau accelerated his departure from rationalism, particularly concerning the problem of grounding metaphysics. When the French Revolution broke out, Kant was one of its greatest enthusiasts, seeing in it the aspirations of the bourgeoisie and the dawn of an era of freedom and justice.
In essence, Kant’s philosophy centers on three fundamental questions:
- What can I know?
- What should I do?
- What may I hope for?
These questions, in turn, point to a more general one: What is man?
The most important works written by Kant were his three Critiques:
- Critique of Pure Reason: Analyzes the nature, role, and limits of human reason (the source of the analyzed text).
- Critique of Practical Reason: Presents his views on ethics and human behavior.
- Critique of Judgment: Unifies the previous two critiques and explores aesthetics and teleology.
Finally, the impact of Kant’s philosophy has been profound and far-reaching. His work served as a starting point for 19th-century philosophy. Some parallels to his theories about knowledge structures have been noted in fields like cognitive science. Despite his critique, metaphysics persists today. Furthermore, the postulates of his practical reason influenced Romanticism and Hegelian idealism. Also, his idea of treating humanity as an end in itself, rather than merely as a means, had a significant impact, including on Marx and subsequent political theories.