HCJ 2 – Kant

Kant is perhaps one of my favourite philosophers, purely because of how much of a challenge his ideas are. He seems to step back from the ordinary and give a completely parallel perspective.

Kant goes against the a posteriori stance of Hume, and claims that something can be known completely indepdenently of experience – synthetic a priori.

Before I go on, I think I should define the different types of a priori and a posteriori:

A PRIORI

A priori is described as the necessary and universal way to know of things. We know things through reasoning, and we can only think of things in terms of space and time.

• Analytic: The statement would be true in itself, we could analyse the truth within the statement. E.g. All bachelors are unmarried.
• Synthetic: We can assess physical experience and create connections through our reasoning: cause and effect. E.g. We know that fire causes pain because we have realised the link between the touching of fire and the subsequent feeling of pain. This is what Kant believes. Kant’s theory of  there being a union between rationalism and empiricism (synthetic a priori) is known as the ‘Copernican Revolution’.

A POSTERIORI

To obtain knowledge through a posteriori is to obtain knowledge through raw sense data, dissociated perception, or simply: our senses. It is contingent.

• Analytic: It is not possible to mentally process a posteriori knowledge.
• Synthetic: The only way to know a posteriori, which is from experience. E.g. Some bachelors are bald.

Kant went on to say that we can only think in terms of space and time, it is necessary as it is our only perception.

Example: Rose tinted spectacles – you think you cannot think of anything not pink if you have only ever seen through rose tinted spectacles. We don’t have the experience without the spectacles, this makes it a necessary and universal. We have always been human, and so we cannot think of anything outside of space and time.

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You can prove using synthetic a priori the existence of both space and time – we cannot imagine anything that doesn’t occupy space and that is out of time. Space and time is a necessary and universal precondition of perception.

The universe exists independently of one’s own mind.

The phenomena are the apearences, and the noumena are the things themselves. These two ideas are vital to Kant’s understanding of the world and epistemology. All of our judgements are of the phenomenal realm, but we will never know of the nourmenal realm as it is independent of our experience.

For example, if you look at the pen, then it is understood in the phenomena, but if it is then taken away/hidden, it returns to the noumena (the pen still exists, but we are not experiencing it).

‘Unity of perception’ – this means that individual thoughts and sense data are sythesised into a whole picture. All experience is united as one perception.

Difference between waking and dreaming: waking consciousness is not dependent of sense data but of necessity. Dreaming is a random series of sense impression, there is no cause and effect in dreaming.

Objects of perception must conform to the mind. The mind creates imaginings by filtering raw sense data into the 12 categories, which can be deduced by synthetic a priori. These are:

1. Unity
2. Plurality
3. Totality
4. Reality
5. Negation
6. Limitation
7. Substance
8. Cause and effect
9. Community
10. Possibility
11. Existence
12. Necessity

All possible perceptions are synthesised from these, and exist in the mind as phenomena.

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Another thing to consider when talking about Kant is his ethics. Kant has ‘descriptive’ morality, rather than ‘prescripted’ – Hume.

The Categorical Imperative: this is a a maxim that should be done, but isn’t known necessarily from experience. We should act for the sake of duty, not for our own personal want of being moral. For example: You must stop at the red light.

The Hypothetical Imperative: this is a statement that consists of ‘if‘. For example: If you want to be good, then you must share your food. It doesn’t have to be done.