Chapter 9 Kant’s Transcendental Idealism

How did Hume influence Kant? What is the distinction between the noumenal and the phenomenal worlds? What are the a priori intuitions? What are the categories of the understanding? What is a hypothetical imperative? What is the Categorical Imperative? What is the difference between beauty and sublimity?

KANT Interrupted in his dogmatic slumber!

Hume’s Challenge If Hume is right, and we cannot know that the future will resemble the past, is science even possible?

Hume’s Challenge If Hume is right, and we cannot know that the future will resemble the past, is science even possible?

Hume’s Challenge If Hume is right, and we cannot know that the future will resemble the past, is science even possible?

Were you getting concerned that all the slides from this chapter would be on “Hume’s Challenge”? Why not? Do you have any justification for your confidence here?

KANT Is this a picture of Kant? How do you know? Why do you believe as you do?

Striving towards the Absolute If we can never understand the Absolute, why should we bother to try? Have you ever tried to achieve something that was unattainable? Why? Did you benefit from your striving despite your failure to achieve your goal?

Cause and Effect If we can’t observe cause and effect relationships, does this mean that the idea of causation is nonsense? If you think it isn’t, WHY? Where could it come from, if not from observation?

The Critique of Pure Reason “…though all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it all arises out of experience.” --Kant What does Kant mean by this?

What is it like to be a bat? Have you any idea what it is like to be a bat, navigating your way around the world by echolocation? How does your experience of the world differ from that of a bat?

Can you know the world independently of experience?

If not, is the world you perceive identical to the world as it is independently of your perceptions—or does your experience of it affect how you perceive it?

If a bat’s perception of the world is different from yours, is it wrong? Or is your perception wrong because it is different from that of a bat?

Color Does blue exist in the world?

Space and Time Can you imagine living in a world that is not bound by the constraints of space and time?

Can you imagine an object existing outside of a spatial location? Can you imagine your thoughts existing without a temporal order?

Do you perceive space and time with your senses?

If your ideas of space and time do not come from your senses, where must they originate from?

Who do you think is right? Hume Pure sciences are not possible, as all ideas must be traced back to sensory experiences Kant Pure sciences are possible, because we have inborn intuitions of time and space

Rejecting Hume’s Skepticism Does science exist? If so, what should this tell us about Humean skepticism?

Categories of the Understanding If something really exists for us, must it exist independently of us? In what way is the mind like a computer program, for Kant? Do you agree with Kant’s view?

The Constitution of Phenomenal Reality Is Kant’s view useful? Is it right?

Kantian Synthesis Rationalism—there are certain innate structures of the mind that ground our knowledge Empiricism—we need sensory input for these structures to function

Do you think we can ever know the world as it exists independently of our experiences? Would Kant agree with you?

What does the human mind aspire towards?

Transcendental Ideas Do you have any transcendental ideas? What are they of? Are they useful for anything, or should you try to rid yourself of them?

Morality Do you think that what is moral is independent of what people say or think? If you find a wallet with the owner’s ID in it, should you return it to her?

If a person strived to do the right thing, but failed, would you consider her to be immoral? Would you praise someone who did good by accident? WHY?

How are moral actions different from non- moral actions? What crucially matters in distinguishing them?

Critique of Judgment How are aesthetic judgments possible?

Beauty How can you sincerely claim that something is a beautiful painting while at the same time acknowledging that others might legitimately hold your claim to be false?

Is there anything which every human finds beautiful? Is beauty in the world? What about sublimity?

Kant’s Wondrous Distress Have you ever looked at the night sky, and been awed by what you see? Have you ever experienced the same awe at the moral law within you? If not—yet!—can you appreciate why Kant did?