Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide by Thomas E. Wartenberg

Author:Thomas E. Wartenberg [Wartenberg, Thomas E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) developed a philosophical system he called ‘the Critical Philosophy.’ Articulated in three great ‘critiques’ – Critique of Pure Reason (1781, second edition 1787), The Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and Critique of Judgement (1790) – the fundamental tenet of this system was that we can have knowledge only of things as they appear to us, ‘phenomena.’ Things as they really are, or ‘noumena,’ must forever lie outside of our theoretical grasp. But although we cannot have any knowledge of noumena, we are able to form beliefs about them and, indeed, it is necessary to do so in order to have a rational basis for ethics.

This bifurcated metaphysics allowed Kant to claim that he had solved all of the problems bequeathed to him by the Western tradition of metaphysics. Many of these stemmed from philosophers failing to acknowledge the distinction between phenomena and noumena, and therefore believing it was possible to have knowledge of the three crucial noumenal objects: God, the World, and the Self. Kant argued that we can have no a priori theoretical knowledge of any of them. The negative portion of the Critique of Pure Reason systematically destroyed the pretensions of previous philosophers to prove God’s existence, to demonstrate the nature and extent of the World, and to establish the character of the self.

In his later years, Kant was so worried that he would not finish explicating the Critical Philosophy that he adhered to a rigid schedule. His walks around his native town of Königsberg were so regular that people were reportedly able to set their clocks by them.

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