A basic starting point of Kant's philosophical theory is that the reason (that is, "category") that transforms experience into knowledge is innate, without which we cannot understand the world. His theory combines British empiricism and European rationalism, which has a far-reaching influence on German idealism and romanticism. Kant's ethical theory is also famous. In addition, he also put forward the first modern theoretical explanation for the formation of the solar system, that is, Kant-Laplace hypothesis.
all one's life
1724 On April 22nd, Kant was born in Konigsberg (K? Nisburg, today's Kaliningrad, Russia), a saddle maker's family, they are devout Protestants; /kloc-entered the university of konigsberg to study philosophy in 0/740, and graduated in 0/745; From 1746, Kant worked as a tutor in a rural aristocratic family for nine years; 1755, Kant returned to the university of konigsberg, completed his university studies, and obtained the qualification of an supernumerary lecturer. As 15 lecturer, teaching physical geography, mathematics, mechanics, engineering, mechanics, ethics, natural science, physics, eloquence and other disciplines. According to many biographies of Kant abroad, he made a schedule of the busiest day: 8-9 o'clock logic. 2-3 pm physical geography, 3-4 pm mathematics [1]; 1770 Kant was appointed as a professor of logic and metaphysics; 1786 was promoted to president of the University of Konigsberg; 1797 resigned from the university faculty; 1804 died in February 12.
Kant was elected as an academician of Berlin Academy of Sciences, Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Cohen Academy of Sciences and Tuscany Academy of Sciences in Italy. Kant never left Konigsberg in his life.
Kant's life is very regular. When he passes by at 3: 30 every afternoon, local residents will look at their watches. The only exception is that he missed the time for a walk, because he was fascinated by reading Rousseau's Emile. Perhaps it is because of this regular lifestyle that Kant seldom gets sick. But Kant is a gregarious person, very talkative and often invites guests to have dinner with him. Pay attention to eating and drinking and have a special preference for food.
Kant's life can be divided into two stages: the early stage and the late stage marked by 1770. I mainly studied natural science in the early stage and philosophy in the later stage. The main achievements in the early stage are General History of Nature and Theory of Celestial Bodies published in 1755, which put forward the nebula hypothesis of the origin of the solar system. During the nine years from 178 1, Kant published a series of great and original works, which brought a revolution to the philosophical thought at that time, including Critique of Pure Reason (178 1) and Critique of Practical Reason (1). The publication of Three Criticism marks the completion of Kant's philosophical system. These three criticisms discuss epistemology, ethics and aesthetics respectively. Although the chronological order should be Critique of Pure Reason (178 1), Critique of Practical Reason (1788) and Critique of Judgment (1790), its theoretical system should be Critique of Pure Reason (65438
Politically, Kant is a liberal. He supported the French Revolution and the political system. 1795, he also published the book On Permanent Peace, and put forward the idea of parliamentary government and world federation. His last masterpiece was Anthropology (1798), which is generally regarded as the summary of his whole theory. Kant was famous as an outstanding philosopher in his later years. After his death, people held a grand funeral for him.
Kant never married.
[Editor] Summary of Philosophical Thought
[Editor] Philosophical Points of Critique of Pure Reason
First of all, in the preface of the first edition of Critique of Pure Reason, Kant clarified that the necessity of critical reason lies in determining whether general metaphysics is possible or impossible, and defining its origin, scope and boundary. But in the preface of the second edition, Kant did not focus on the conditions of rational criticism, but changed the relationship between knowledge and objects: knowledge is not based on objects, but objects are based on knowledge. This new concept led Kant to launch the Copernican Revolution in philosophy.
In the introduction, Kant puts forward the general idea of the book: the general task of pure reason is to solve the problem of "innate comprehensive judgment", that is, how to expand the knowledge content with universality and inevitability, and subdivide the following four problems according to this general problem: 1 How is mathematics possible? 2. How is natural science possible? 3. How is metaphysics possible as a natural tendency? How is metaphysics possible as science?
Kant divided the book into five parts: 1. Transcendental perception II. Transcendental logic 3. Transcendental analysis 4. Transcendental dialectics 5. Transcendental methodology.
[Editor] Transcendental Perception Theory
Transcendental perceptual theory mainly expounds that only by arranging the sensory materials stimulated by things themselves through the innate intuitive forms of human perceptual knowledge (acceptance ability), that is, space and time, can we obtain certain perceptual knowledge. At the same time, space and time are also the innate intuitive forms of the foundation and conditions for the universality and inevitability of mathematical knowledge.
[Editor] Transcendental logic theory
The explanation of transcendental logic theory is that sensibility must be combined with intellectuality, and intuition must be combined with thinking to produce natural science knowledge. Therefore, there must be a transcendental logic different from formal logic to explore the intellectual structure and its various principles when applied to empirical objects. Transcendental logic is based on the relationship between knowledge and object, that is, the content of knowledge, rather than a simple form of thinking, which marks the germination of dialectical logic in modern times.
[Editor] Transcendental analysis theory
Transcendental analysis (the logic of truth) expounds that the innate concepts and principles of intellectuality are the basis and conditions for the possibility of natural science. In concept analysis, through the analysis of logical function in intellectual judgment. The principle analysis theory in transcendental analysis theory mainly expounds the laws and regulations of intellectual guidance judgment on the application category of phenomena.
[Editor] Transcendental dialectics
Transcendental dialectics (the logic of illusion) mainly expounds that reason inevitably transcends phenomena to understand ontology, and the resulting metaphysics as a natural tendency is only a transcendental illusion and cannot be a real science. Kant pointed out in Introduction to Transcendental Dialectics that the generalization ability of reason is to know the unconditional from the conditional.
Transcendental methodology
Transcendental methodology first clarifies that although there are correct laws and regulations for the empirical use of pure reason (the principle of intellectual priority revision), there are no laws and regulations for its theoretical (speculative and transcendental) use, so it is necessary to train its transcendental use methods (dogmatism from definition, skepticism from pros and cons, hypothesis and proof methods) and establish some "negative" rules.
[Editor] Essentials of epistemology and others
Although Kant used critical philosophy, he himself established a complete set of philosophical theories. He himself claimed to have initiated a Copernican revolution in the field of philosophy. In Kant's time, there were two main theories of European philosophy: empiricism developed by Locke and Hume and rationalism by Descartes. Empiricists believe that human understanding of the world comes from human experience, while rationalists believe that human understanding comes from human rationality.
On the other hand, Kant combined these two viewpoints to some extent. Kant believes that knowledge is acquired by human beings through senses and reason. Experience is a necessary condition for knowledge, but it is not the only factor. Transforming experience into knowledge requires rationality (Kant, like Aristotle, called this rationality "category"), and rationality is innate. Human beings gain external experience through the framework of category, and without category, they cannot perceive the world. Therefore, category, like experience, is a necessary condition for acquiring knowledge. However, there are also some factors that can change people's concept of the world. He realized that things themselves are different from what people see, and people can never know the true face of things.
Kant's tombstone is located in Kaliningrad, Russia. Time and space are two innate special concepts in Kant's view. Kant pointed out in Critique of Pure Reason that no one can imagine an object that exists in a world without time and space, so he emphasized that without time and space, experience is impossible, and time and space precede all experience.
In addition, Kant also believes that experience must come from outside the mind. In other words, a person can perceive and understand the world around him, but he can never perceive and understand himself, because the production of knowledge needs three elements: time, space and category.
In the aspect of causality, Kant also overthrew Hume's view. Hume believes that the law of causality does not exist, and human beings only think that there is a connection between the two phenomena because of habit. In other words, we can only perceive the movement of the white ball and the black ball, but we can't perceive the reason why the white ball causes the black ball movement. It is precisely because we can't perceive the law of causality itself that Hume thinks that we can't prove the existence of the law of causality. However, Kant believes that the law of causality is the result of human rationality. Kant agrees with Hume that the law of causality does not come from experience, but he thinks that the law of nature can be proved because it is the law of human cognition. The law of causality is actually the expression of human rationality.
On religious issues, Kant admits that neither experience nor reason can prove the existence of God. But he believes that in order to maintain morality, we must assume the existence of God and soul. He called these beliefs "practical hypothesis", that is, an unprovable hypothesis, but in order to practice, the hypothesis must be established.
[Editor] The Philosophical Essence of Criticism of Practical Reason
In ethics, Kant denies that will is dominated by external factors, but thinks that will legislates for itself, and human beings' ability to distinguish right from wrong is innate, not acquired. This set of laws of nature is an overwhelming command, applicable to all situations, and a universal moral code. Kant believes that true moral behavior is an act made purely on the basis of obligation, and doing things for personal utilitarian purposes cannot be considered as moral behavior. Therefore, according to Kant, whether an act conforms to the moral norms does not depend on the consequences of the act, but on the motivation of taking the act. Kant also believes that we are free only if we abide by moral laws, because we abide by our own moral norms. If we just want to do so, there is no freedom, because you have become a slave to all kinds of things.
[Editor] The theoretical conclusion of Kant's philosophy
In its own words, his theory mainly answers four questions: 1, what can I know? 2. What should I think? 3. What do I hope? 4. What is a person?
[Editor] Famous sayings
Freedom is self-discipline.
The purpose of education is to make people become people.
The more I think about it, the more amazing I feel, and my heart is full of awe. That is the starry sky above my head, and it is also the moral code in my heart, which proves to me that God is in my head and in my heart.
Antinomy is Kant's philosophical concept. It means that although two theories or doctrines formed on the same object or problem are established separately, they are contradictory phenomena, which are also translated as antinomy, conflict or contradiction.
The antinomy was put forward by Kant in his masterpiece Critique of Pure Reason. In the book, Kant lists four antinomies, all of which are composed of topic and duality.
In the first antinomy, the topic is: "The world has a starting point in time and is limited in space."
The opposite is: "The world has no starting point in time and no boundaries in space; In terms of time and space, it is infinite. "
The second antinomy proves that every composite entity is composed of simple parts and non-simple parts.
The third antinomy proposition holds that there are two kinds of causality, one is according to the laws of nature, and the other is according to the laws of freedom. Opposites claim that only causality conforms to the laws of nature.
The fourth antinomy proves that there is neither absolute necessity nor absolute existence.
The discovery of the antinomy of pure reason is of great significance in the formation of Kant's philosophy, which makes Kant deeply criticize reason, not only discovering the root of the metaphysical dilemma in the past, but also finding a solution to the problem. Kant regards antinomy as a natural tendency derived from the rational pursuit of unconditional things by human beings, so it is inevitable. His solution is to treat unconditional people not as the object of cognition, but as the goal of moral belief. Although his understanding of antinomy is mainly negative, he also reveals the inevitability of the inherent contradiction of reason and has a far-reaching impact on Hegel's dialectics.