Kant's Critical Philosophy: Bridging Rationalism and Empiricism

Rationalism vs. Empiricism

To the rationalist, metaphysics was the body of knowledge to which man can reach by his own lights, sound as a carrier of these ideas since birth. These innate ideas are embedded in humans and can be discovered without the help of experience, just by thinking. For rationalists, the metaphysical has to develop and organize the rest of knowledge, based on innate and obvious truths.

For the empiricist, all knowledge comes from outside, from what our senses pick up. So for them, there are no innate ideas, but a mind, initially 'virgin', in which experience is typed. They denied any possibility of metaphysics, and dogmatism and moral consequences are derived from all of this. In denying the metaphysical, everything is reduced to the data of experience, and they denied that science may be universal and necessary.

Kant's Critique of Rationalism and Empiricism

For Kant, both epistemological currents committed a serious error, since they equated the foundation of knowledge with its origin. Neither approach was interested in establishing the reason for the logical validity of knowledge. For Kant, the foundation of knowledge is a matter of logical consistency and necessity.

Kant's Approach to Knowledge

Kant distanced himself from both currents primarily by not considering the question of the origin of knowledge. He was interested in finding out the structure of thinking and knowing, i.e., the logic and the way we develop knowledge.

Kant denies the rationalist rejection of experience and that empiricism cannot build necessary knowledge about experience.

The Logic of Experience

Kant tries to prove that the knowledge gained through the senses and experience is made under certain circumstances that make them conditions for reason and human understanding and interpretation to see things as we do. He tries to set the logic of experience.

The Empirical Perspective

The empirical answers: That knowledge is subject to rules that have universal value, as if they were to make anything possible conditions. Empiricism is necessary because, without it, there is no external information.

The Rationalist Perspective

Rationalism responds: That no knowledge arises from the world itself that is intended to be explained; reason is unchecked and dogmatic, as if it is not sensible, as it cannot compare results.

Kant's Critical Philosophy

But Kant is not satisfied with either the dogmatism of the rationalists, who think that thinking leads to the truth of the world, nor the skepticism of the empiricists, as they left philosophy in a mere collection of views. For Kant, knowledge must be based on experience and keep in touch with it. Knowledge has to have the characteristics of necessity and universality because there can be no knowledge that we cannot trust, but it must be universal and necessary. This new approach is critical philosophy and is part of logic. It is a solution based on rationality that requires us to combine experience (contingency) with necessity.