This podcast explores Kant's transcendental philosophy and its significance for understanding continental philosophy. It delves into topics such as the critique of pure reason, a priori understanding, consciousness and synthesis, a priori concepts and categories, the distinction between numina and phenomena, and the influence of Kant's philosophy on contemporary debates.
Kant's concept of a priori structures, such as space and time, shapes our perception of the external world and our comprehension of experiences.
Kant's philosophy, with its emphasis on subjectivity, synthesis of opposing concepts, and exploration of the body, continues to influence contemporary debates and philosophical inquiries.
Deep dives
Kant's Philosophy: Key to Understanding Continental Philosophy
Continental philosophy can be understood as before Kant (BK) and after Kant (AK). Kant's three critiques - the pure reason, practical reason, and judgment - are central to philosophers like Hegel, Nietzsche, and Merleau-Ponty. Kant's critique of pure reason challenges Hume's skepticism on causality, asserting that our mind has an innate tendency to associate events causally. He introduces the idea of a priori structures that order our experience, such as space and time, which are not derived from experience but shape our perception of the external world. These structures, along with concepts like categories, help us comprehend and organize our experiences.
Understanding Cognitive Structures: Intuition and Concepts
Kant distinguishes between intuitions and concepts. Intuitions are immediate and singular presentations of objects, while concepts are generic presentations. Our understanding of concepts relies on intuitive grasping and perceiving phenomena. Space and time are intuitive forms that determine how we perceive and organize our experiences, as they cannot be reduced to particular objects or boundaries. Kant's emphasis on the unity of self across time demonstrates the inherent need for transcendental subjectivity, which involves continuous self-awareness and the necessary conditions for experience. Concepts, on the other hand, help us classify and understand phenomena, while intuitions provide the immediate relational aspect of objects.
Space, Time, and Transcendence in Kant's Philosophy
Kant's concept of space and time extends beyond their empirical dimensions. He argues that space and time are essential conditions of possibility for experience, as they order our perception and understanding of the external world. Space and time are not objects themselves but intuitive forms that transcend experience. Kant introduces the distinction between the numina, the thing in itself, and phenomena, things as they appear to us. We can only directly know phenomena, while the numinal world exists independently of our perception. The transcendental deduction reveals that the necessary conditions for experience, like the unity of self across time, should be self-evident and not inferred from experience. Kant's philosophy sets the parameters for all thinking and demonstrates the synthesis between seemingly opposing concepts.
Implications of Kant's Philosophy and Its Relevance Today
Kant's philosophy has ongoing implications in contemporary debates. His critique of factual knowledge and objectivity resonates with postmodern theories on interpretation and the limits of knowledge. Kant's emphasis on the active role of the subject, the reconciliation of succession and simultaneity, and the distinction between appearance and reality lay the foundation for further philosophical inquiries. The body, often associated with crude materialism, is seen in Kant's philosophy as the primary driver of our transcendence. His work paves the way for philosophers like Merleau-Ponty, who explore the historically situated body and its impact on our understanding of transcendence.
This lecture concern's Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. I examine some of the core features of Kant's famous text - noumenal and phenomenal, conditions of possibility, time and space, intuition and concepts. Most importantly, I try to explain just why understanding Kant is indispensable for any understanding the debates which go on to form Continental Philosophy in the 20th Century.
This lecture series are from one of our modules called 'Transcendence and the Body' which is a core module of our MA in Continental Philosophy. On this course we study the history and emergence of Continental Philosophy. Much of 19th Century thought can be understood as a productive debate between philosophers working in an idealist tradition - where the key questions are to do with the conditions of possibility of thought or presentation, whether these conditions are understood transcendentally or historically - and those working in a broadly materialist tradition - where the key questions concern the material basis of both mind and appearance. This thematic will be used to investigate key figures and positions within this period, whilst allowing also for the possibility that staging the debate in this way might obscure certain other problems, themes or methods. Philosophers studied will be selected from a list that includes Kant, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Lange, Marx, Nietzsche, Bergson, Merleau-Ponty among others.
Come study on our MA in Continental Philosophy via this link. Or, join our MA in Philosophy of Nature, Information and Technology via this link.
