IMMANUEL KANT ( Human reason and modern thought Immanuel Kant is one of the single most important phi io have ever lived. His work forever changed the shape of Western phi. losophy. Born on April 22, 1724, in Kénigsberg, East Prussia, Kant came from a large and modest family. As Kant grew older, the lar Protestant movement Pietism played a large role in his family’s life (and would subsequently influence his later work). At eight years old, Kant attended the Collegium Fridericianum, where he studied classicism. Kant remained there until 1740, when he enrolled in the University of Kénigsberg, studying mathematics and philosophy. When his father died in 1746, Kant found himself suddenly without money and began to take w ork as a private tutor to pay for his education. He worked as a tutor for seven years, and it was tsity of Kénigsberg for in 1770, he became a professor in logic and metaphysics. When he was fifty-seven years old, Kant published the Critique of Pure Reason, which is one of the single most important 8 in two ways: how the world @ppears, and how one thinks about the world. Kant continued to teach at the University of Kénigsberg and write major philosophical texts for the next twenty-seven years. However, as word spread of his unorthodox methods of teaching religious texts, _ the Prussian government be, an to Pressure Kant. In 1792, the king of barred Immanuel Kant from writing about and teaching reli king's death five years later, igious 'LOSOpHy 101Kant taught at the « ame 1 Though his life was relative! philosophy were anything bur THE CRITIQUES oF IMMANUEL KANT The work of Immanuel Kant is immense and incredibly co : However, the common theme throughout all of his critical method to understand and come to terms with ophica problems. Kant believed that in philosophy, one should not te about the world around him; rather, we should all critique our Dwr mental abilities. We should investigate all that we are familiar with understand and define the limits of our knowledge, and determine how our mental processes affect how we make sense of eve Rather than speculating on the universe around us, Kant be that by looking inward we would discover the answers to the many questions posed by philosophy. Thus, Kant shifts away from meta- __ physics and toward epistemology (the study of knowledge). Transcendental Idealism understand Kant’s philosophy of transcendental idealism, one must Kant’s distinction between phenomena and noumena. ‘our minds. NOUMENA: These, according to Kant, are of our minds’ interpretations. 83Kant claims that we only have the ability to ky presented to us from our minds and that the externa] truly be known. In other words, the only knowledge | and ever will know, is knowledge of phenomena, This means ' knowledge of noumena is, and always will be, unknown, that Understanding4, Analytic proposition: This is when the concept is contained within the subject, For example, “all squares have four corners.” In this sentence, four corners is part of the definition of a square. 2. Synthetic proposition: Th {9 jn when the concept is not contained within the subject, For example, “all women are happy.” In this sentence, happiness is not part of the definition of a wornan. Kant then makes a distinction between two more propositions: 1. apriori proposition: This is when the justification of a proposi- tion does not rely on any experience. For example, “8 + 6 = 14” or “all mice are rodents.” ‘2. a posteriori proposition: This is when the justification of a Proposition relies on experience. For example, the proposition _ “all women are happy” requires experience to say whether or not how synthetic a priori knowledge can be possible Gn ow one can know something is universal and necessary definitional or self-evident). Kant concludes that { ge is in fact possible. And here’s how: experience is organized in our mind based se categories then become features of ary and universal. For example, it in nature. Rather, causation is perceive it. We can’t not findKANT'S VIEWS ON ETH Kant was a deontologist, meaning he firmly believed Y I e determined as moral or immoral based on | e action (as opposed to consequentialists, w] orality based on its consequences). According ; have the ability to deliberate and provide reasons for an | judgment should be placed on those Teasons why an was performed. While it is important that our actions have nsequences and we should always try for that result, con- €s are not affected by reason, and therefore, reason is not ely responsible for the consequences of a particular action as endorsed by reason. Reason can only be held accountable for endorsing a particular . Therefore, we can only judge motives and actions as being immoral. Since morality is determined fr means that goodness and badness also stem from ri Kant claims that actin from one’s own personal ‘om reason, this eason. g badly is violating the maxims created reason, or creating maxims that cannot consistently be viewed as universal laws, In other words, badness is the result of laws of reason being violated. From this notion, we can conclude that immorality is actually a type of irrationality because the laws of reason are being violated, By acting immorally, Kant believes that we become less rational human beings, thus weakening our humanity, We can only stop ourselves from doing things against _ our better judgment by behaving rationally,