Here are the characteristics of Kant's criticism

Image: Slideshare

Criticism is an epistemological system initiated by Immanuel Kant, which seeks to establish the limits of knowledge, starting from an analysis of the conditions of its possibility. In this lesson from a TEACHER, we will talk about features of theKant's criticism, which consists of a synthesis or overcoming of rationalism and empiricism, since neither of the two doctrines contemplates the active role of the subject who knows in the very act of knowing. For Kant, it is the subject that determines the objectand not the other way around. This is what is known as the Copernican turn in philosophy, a true revolution and a true turning point with respect to traditional philosophy. Do you want to know more about Kant's criticism?

Index

1. The Copernican turn in Kant
2. Main characteristics of Kant's criticism
3. Synthetic a priori judgments of Kant

The Copernican RevolutionIt consists of placing the sun at the center of the universe, while the Earth revolves around the sun, and in this way, it manages to explain the apparent movement of the stars.

On his part, Kant tries to explain whether synthetic judgments are possible a priori. Before, it had not been achieved by having considered that it was the known object that determines the knowing subject. That is, until Kant, it was understood that the subject was passive in the act of knowing, submitting to the object in that act. Kant puts a twist on this by stating that the subject establishes the conditions to the objects and not the other way around.

The role of the subject when it comes to knowing, is therefore, active, and you can only have a universal and necessary knowledge if it is the subject who is positioned as the center of knowledge. It is the object that depends on the subject. It is the subject who determines reality, which, even though it is the same, can be known differently depending on the subject who knows it, who imposes the conditions of possibility of the known object, that is, conditions can be known.

Image: Slideshare

Kant, is considered one of the greatest philosophers of all time, and his philosophy has inspired many great thinkers, just as he would have, the empiricist British, David hume, who according to Kant himself, woke him up from his dogmatic dream, although his thought was also marked by the philosophy of the rationalists Leibniz Y Wolff, of whom he was a disciple.

Kant, part of Hume's skepticism, but taking it as a place of rest and not a dwelling place, and he asks himself 4 questions:

1. What can I know?
2. What should I do?
3. What can i expect
4. These questions are included in a fourth, What is man?

This first question, to the one of the limits of knowledgeIt will be the central theme of Kant's criticism, and for this, he will study the conditions of its possibility.

Thus, Kant raises the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments, that is, those of science and those that advance scientific knowledge. Kant starts from a division between analytical and synthetic judgments, and a priori and a posteriori judgments.

The analytical judgments are those that do not provide new knowledge, since the predicate is included in the subject. The judgments syntheticsOn the other hand, if they contribute new knowledge.

On the other hand are the a priori judgments Y a posteriori. The former are prior to the experience, that is, it is not necessary to experience them to know them. The latter are subsequent to the experience, that is, to affirm their validity they must have been experienced.

Image: elcriticismo.blogspot.com

Analytical judgments are usually a priori, and synthetic, a posteriori, then, ¿how are synthetic a priori judgments possible?

Kant, states that knowledge begins from the data of the senses, from external experience, that is, through sensitivity. But reason abstracts these data from external experience to build a mental representation that is the concept. The subject is active in the act of knowledge, being the one who determines the object. This subject that he knows, can only do so in space and time, which are the pure a priori forms of sensitivity. Outside of here it is not possible to know the external reality.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, passes from these to the understanding and ends in reason. There is nothing in us superior to this to elaborate the matter of intuition and submit it to the supreme unity of thinking.

But,what can the subject know? The only thing the subject can know is The phenomenon, everything that responds to the pure forms of sensitivity, what occurs in space and time, These are the categories of sensitivity, which is translated into a mental concept, which is transformed into judgment.

What cannot be known is the noumenon, or thing in itself, since the forms cannot be applied to it

Therefore, the limit of knowledge is experience and then, metaphysics, despite being a natural disposition, it is not possible as science strict. But although it does not serve as the foundation of knowledge, Kant points out its importance as regulatory, to thwart human attempts to go beyond the limits of reason and not to deviate on the path of knowledge.

If you want to read more articles similar to Characteristics of Kant's criticism, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

Kant, I.Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Aesthetics. Alfaguara, 1998