An Appraisal of Kant’s Perspectives on Human Knowledge

ABSTRACT There is a dialectical relationship between theory and practice, which finds expression in Kant’s philosophy. From the Socratic era to the modern period of Philosophy, philosophers were preoccupied with the investigation into the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge, an enterprise that culminated in the emergence of the rationalist and the empiricist schools of thought. As an attempt to mediate between these traditions, Kant’s critical method in philosophy aims primarily at performing a critique of our mental faculties, investigating what we know, defining the limits of knowledge, and determining how the mental processes by which we make sense of the world affect what we know. As a philosophical reflection premised on Kant’s epistemology, this discourse aims at establishing that Kant made landmark contributions to the development of human knowledge. It also aims at substantiating the fact that one’s knowledge invariably conditions one’s perception of values. The qualitative research design was adopted for this work. The expository, analytical, and critical methods were used to expose and put into proper perspective Kant’s critical philosophy with a view to highlighting its implications for the quest for true knowledge. Hence, the specific objectives of this study are to (i) expose the basic tenets of Kant’s theory of knowledge (ii) examine the extent to which Kant’s ideas advanced the course of epistemology, and (iii) provide insights on how the inherent merits of Kant’s epistemology can foster the promotion of human knowledge and values.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page i

Dedication ii

Approval page iii

Certification iv

Acknowledgements v

Table of contents vii

Abstract ix

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the Study 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem 2

1.3 Thesis of the Study 2

1.4 Purpose of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 3

1.6 Scope of the Study 3

1.7 Research Methodology 3

1.8 Clarification of Terms 4

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 9

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 KANT’S PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN KNOWLEDGE 31

3.1 A Biographical Sketch of Immanuel Kant 31

3.2 Background to Kant’s Epistemology 32

3.3 David Hume’s Influence on Kant’s Epistemological Thoughts 34

3.4 Kant: A Critical Mediator between Rationalism and Empiricism 39

3.4.1 Knowledge as Synthetic a priori judgment 40

viii

3.4.2 Kant’s Copernican Revolution in Philosophy 43

3.5 The Structure of Rational Thought 45

3.5.1 Kant’s Transcendental Idealism and The Categories of Thought 46

3.5.2 The Self and the Unity of Experience 48

3.5.3 Phenomenal and Noumenal worlds 50

3.5.4 Transcendental Ideas of Pure Reason as Regulative concepts 52

3.5.5 The Antinomies and the Limits of Reason 54

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 THE PHILOSOPHICAL AFFINITY BETWEEN KANT’S EPISTEMOLOGY

AND HIS MORAL PHILOSOPHY 58

4.1 The Basis of Moral Knowledge 59

4.2 Morality and Rationality 61

4.3 “Good” defined as the Good Will 62

4.4 The Categorical Imperative as the Test of Morality 64

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 CRITICAL EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION 70

5.1 The Merits of Kant’s perspectives on human knowledge 70

5.2 The Demerits of Kant’s perspectives on human knowledge 73

5.3 Conclusion 77

BIBLIOGRAPHY 81