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Immanuel Kant—What can we know? - Ralph Ammer

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If you are interested in truth, be it in the form of scientific knowledge or artistic beauty, there is no way around Immanuel Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’. In this book Kant asked the simple question: “What can we know?“ And his answer is foundational to how we experience and understand the world today. Before we delve into Immanuel Kant’s solution, let’s have a quick look at two opposing philosophical views of his time. One position – which is often attributed to rationalists like René Descartes– considers our rational thinking as the source of all knowledge. Our senses might betray us, but our rational mind is reliable. Perhaps because it was created by a higher power. An opposing view – usually associated with empiricists like David Hume – suggests that our minds are somewhat empty. Everything we know must have entered through our senses first. We must observe the outside world to learn what is going on. So rationalists think that our mind is built to understand the world throug

Immanuel Kant — What can we know? If you are interested in truth , be it in the form of scientific knowledge or artistic beauty , there is no way around Immanuel Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’. In this book Kant asked the simple question: “ What can we know? “ And his answer is foundational to how we experience and understand the world today. 1. Should we think or should we look? Before we delve into Immanuel Kant’s solution, let’s have a quick look at two opposing philosophical views of his time. Rationalism: It is all in our head One position – whi

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