Kant's Core Philosophical Concepts: Revolution, Illusion, and Imperatives

Kant's Copernican Revolution in Philosophy

The **Copernican Revolution** is Kant's philosophical proposal to understand how **synthetic a priori knowledge** is possible, fundamentally changing the role of the subject in relation to the *a priori* conditions of knowledge.

Kant explains his philosophy using an analogy with the astronomical revolution initiated by Copernicus. Copernicus realized that celestial movement could not be understood under the theory that the Earth was the center of the universe, with the Sun and other celestial objects revolving around it. He finally understood that the Sun is at the center and the Earth revolves around it.

The central problem in philosophy, according to Kant, is explaining synthetic a priori knowledge. Preceding philosophy supposed that knowledge was based on the experience of the knowing subject, resulting in **passive knowledge**. With *a priori* knowledge, we know something more about things before experiencing them.

Kant argues that the cognitive experience in the knowing subject is **active**. In the act of knowing, the knower changes the reality of the known object.

Understanding Kant's Transcendental Illusion

The **Transcendental Illusion** arises from the misuse of the transcendental concepts of reason, which Kant calls "Ideas." These Ideas are representations necessary for reason, but they cannot correspond to an object found in the senses.

The transcendental illusion occurs when the thought of these Ideas is taken as objectively existing. The erroneous interpretation of the subjective need for these Ideas as if it were an objective necessity leads to the illusory.

The three primary transcendental ideas of reason that constitute the medium of transcendental illusion are:

1. The **I** (Soul/Self)
2. The **World** (Cosmos/Totality)
3. **God** (Supreme Being)

Metaphysical disciplines attempt to treat these Ideas as if they were empirical knowledge, which is the field where the illusion unfolds. The theoretical objective of transcendental dialectic is to demonstrate that any attempt to broaden empirical concepts into far-reaching concepts based on these Ideas is illusory, vain, and null.

The Ideas themselves are not a deception, but the transcendental illusion occurs through their **misuse** by reason.

The Categorical and Hypothetical Imperatives

Imperatives are divided into two main types:

Categorical Imperative

This mandates a universal and necessary action. It prescribes an action as good in an **unconditional** way, commanding something for the goodness of the action itself, regardless of what can be achieved with it. It declares the action objectively necessary in itself without reference to any extrinsic purpose. For Kant, only this type of mandate is properly a **moral imperative**.

Hypothetical Imperative

These imperatives prescribe an action as good because such action is necessary to achieve some specific purpose or end. They fall under two subcategories:

• Imperatives of **Skill** (Technical rules)
• Imperatives of **Prudence** (Pragmatic advice)