Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was a German philosopher who is a central figure in modern philosophy. Kant argued that human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience, and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality.
Kant’s most influential work is the Critique of Pure Reason, aimed at reconciling the ideas of empiricism and rationalism. He sought to explain the relationship between human experience and knowledge itself, proposing that while the human mind constructs knowledge, it does so according to its pre-existing structures.
Key Concepts
- Transcendental Idealism: Suggests the mind shapes the world we experience.
- Categorical Imperative: A foundational concept in ethics suggesting universal moral laws.
- Phenomena and Noumena: Differentiation between the world as we experience it and the world in itself.
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