Rationalism vs. Empiricism: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism
Rationalism and Empiricism
Rationalism and empiricism are epistemological positions that seek to understand how we know the world. Empiricism emphasizes the role of the senses, asserting that knowledge originates from sensory experience. Empiricists argue that nothing exists in the mind that was not first in the senses. All that comes to mind comes from the senses, through a process that begins with sensory input. For empiricists, there are no innate ideas, and truth is not universal because it depends on individual experience.
Rationalism, on the other hand, emphasizes the role of reason. Rationalists believe that some knowledge is innate, existing in the mind prior to sensory experience.
Kant’s Synthesis
Immanuel Kant is not a radical rationalist. He believes that knowledge begins with the senses but does not believe the mind is an empty container. Kant introduces the concept of the transcendental subject, which actively shapes and structures our experience.
Empiricism, according to Kant, does not believe that rules are based on reason but on emotion. Kant, however, bases moral standards on the exercise of reason.
Kant’s Copernican Revolution
Kant introduced a radical change in his conception of the knowledge process, which he called a “Copernican Revolution.” He argued that knowledge is a process involving both the human knower (subject) and the reality known (object). We do not perceive reality exactly as it is; instead, we interpret it based on how we relate to what we perceive. Knowledge, therefore, is an intersection between subject and object. The object of knowledge is shaped by the subject.
Contrary to common sense, which suggests that we obtain an objective picture of things, Kant argues that it is impossible to know things as they truly are because we inevitably influence them through our perception.
Transcendental Illusion
Kant uses the term “transcendental illusion” to refer to the metaphysical distinction between phenomena and noumena.
- Phenomena: These are the events of nature, the objects that exist outside of us and that we come to know through our senses.
- Noumena: These are “pure objects” that we cannot access through our senses, space, time, or categories.
Kant argues that we can only know phenomena. Space, time, senses, and categories are the conditions that make knowledge possible.
Moral Life and Metaphysical Postulates
Moral life, according to Kant, is a reality demonstrated by our exercise of conscience. This requires certain conditions:
- Freedom: If we were not free, we could not choose. Without freedom, there would be no moral responsibility. Freedom, therefore, must exist. It is not a phenomenon but a noumenon.
- Immortality of the Soul: There must be something universal and eternal within us that allows for moral action. This is the immortal soul.
- Existence of God: The ideals that drive us in moral life must be realizable. There must be a possibility of overlap between the ideal and the real. This consistency between what is and what ought to be is found in God. God is the being in whom the ideal is real.
While we cannot know God, the soul, or freedom in the same way we know phenomena, they are essential postulates for understanding moral action.