Philosophical creativity of Kant is divided into 2 periods: subcritical and critical. The first fell on 1746-1769 when Kant dealt with natural sciences issues, recognized that things can be learned is speculative, offered a hypothesis of emergence of a system of planets from initial "fog". The critical period lasted from 1770 to 1797. During this time Kant wrote "Criticism of pure mind", "Criticism of ability of judgment", "Criticism of practical mind". And the doctrine about "phenomena" and "transcendental objects" is the basis for all three books.
The edging was close to philosophers of the age of Enlightenment, it approved freedom of the person, but did not support the intellectual atheism peculiar to his contemporaries. The theory of knowledge at Kant is based on a priority of the specific individual – and it connected it with rationalists and empiricists. However Kant tried to overcome both empiricism, and rationalism. For this purpose he applied, transcendental, philosophy.
The kernel of the theory of knowledge of Kant – a hypothesis that the subject influences an object that an object in a habitual look is result of perception and thinking of the subject. Those years the fundamental assumption for the theory of knowledge was the return: an object influences a subject, and shift that Kant brought in philosophical thought, began to call a kopernikovsky revolution.
Theory of knowledge of Kant
Immanuel Kant defined knowledge how result of cognitive activity. It removed three concepts which characterize knowledge:
- Apostpriorny knowledge which the person receives from experience. It can be presumable, but not reliable because the statements gained from this knowledge should be checked practically, and not always this knowledge is true.
- Aprioristic knowledge – what exists in mind before carrying out experience and does not need practical proofs.
- "Transcendental object" - internal essence of a thing which the reason will never be able to learn. This central concept of all philosophy of Kant.
Thus, Kant made a hypothesis, sensational for philosophy of that time: the learning subject defines a way of knowledge and creates knowledge subject. And so far other philosophers analyzed character and structure of an object to clear sources of delusions, Kant did it to understand that such true knowledge.
In the subject Kant saw two levels: empirical and transcendental. The first are specific psychological features of the person, the second – general definitions that make accessory of person per se. Objective knowledge of Kant is caused by transcendental part of the subject, a certain nadyndividualny beginning.
Kant was convinced that not studying things in itself – the person, the world, the nature, - but a research of informative ability of people, definition of laws and limits of human mind has to be a subject of theoretical philosophy. Similar belief Kant put gnoseology to the place of the first and basic element for theoretical philosophy.
Priori forms of sensuality
Kant's philosophers contemporaries considered that the sensuality only brings to people variety of feelings, and the principle of unity comes from concepts of reason. The philosopher agreed with them that the sensuality gives to the person variety of feelings, and the feeling is matter of sensuality. But considered that the sensuality has also the priori, doopytny forms which feelings initially "keep within" and in which they are ordered.
A priori forms of sensuality according to Kant are a space and time. The philosopher considered space a priori form of external feeling or contemplation, time – a form internal.
This hypothesis allowed Kant to give justification for the objective importance of ideal designs, first of all - mathematics designs.
Mind and reason
The edging divided these concepts. It considered that the mind is doomed to pass from one caused to other caused, without having an opportunity to reach certain unconditional to finish such row. Because in the world of experience there is no unconditional nothing, and the mind according to Kant relies on experience.
However people strive for unconditional knowledge, they can look for the absolute, that prime cause from which all came and which could explain all set of the phenomena at once. And here the reason appears.
The reason according to Kant belongs to the world of the ideas, but not experience, and gives the chance to present the purpose, that absolute unconditional to which human knowledge which it puts to itself as the purpose aspires. I.e. the idea of reason at Kant has regulatory function and motivates mind to act, however – no more than that.
And here the unsolvable contradiction is born:
- To have an incentive to activity, the mind pushed by reason strives for absolute knowledge.
- However this purpose is unattainable for it therefore, in the aspiration to reach it, the mind goes beyond an experience side.
- But categories of mind have lawful application only within experience.
In such cases the mind falls into delusion, amuses itself with illusion that can learn by means of own categories things out of experience, in itself.
"Transcendental object"
Within the philosophical system of Kant "transcendental object" performs four main functions what there correspond four values to. Their essence briefly can be expressed so:
- The concept "transcendental object" indicates that for human representations and feelings there is a certain external activator. And at the same time "transcendental object" is a symbol of a nepoznannost of an object in the world of the phenomena, in this value the term appears "a subject in itself".
- The concept "transcendental object" includes also any unknown subject in principle: only the fact that it is, and to some extent what it is not is known of this thing.
- At the same time "transcendental object" is out of experience and the transcendental sphere, and it includes everything that is in transcendental area. In such context everything that goes beyond the subject is ranked as the world of things.
- The last idealistic value. And according to it, "transcendental object" is a certain kingdom of ideals, in principle inaccessible. And the most this kingdom becomes an ideal of the highest synthesis too, and "transcendental object" becomes an object of value belief.
From the methodological point of view these values are inadequate: 2 last prepare the soil for transcendental interpretation of a concept. But all specified values "transcendental objects" refracts the main philosophical positions.
And in spite of the fact that Immanuel Kant was close to the ideas of Education, as a result of its works were criticism of educational concept of reason. Philosophers of Education were convinced that possibilities of human knowledge are boundless, so, and possibilities of social progress as it was considered a product of development of science. Kant pointed to mind limits, rejected claims of science on a possibility of knowledge of things in itself and limited knowledge, having made room for belief.
Kant considered that the belief in freedom of the person, immortality of soul, god is the basis which consecrates the requirement to people to be moral beings.