Kant's Critique of Metaphysics: Illusion and Experience

Kant's Critique of Metaphysics

Immanuel Kant posits that the transcendental dialectic functions as the logic of transcendental illusion. Science, he argues, is confined to the realm of experience. Reason, however, is inevitably drawn to questions that extend beyond these limits, questions it cannot ultimately answer but also cannot ignore. This compels reason to venture further.

Metaphysical Objects and Ideas of Reason

The objects of metaphysics are essentially ideas of reason. Kant subjected the three primary ideas of reason—the self (I), the world, and God—to critical examination. These are the traditional subjects of metaphysical inquiry.

The Thinking Subject and Paralogisms

The thinking subject gives rise to four paralogisms concerning substantiality, simplicity, personality, and ideality. These concepts, Kant contends, cannot be empirically proven because they lack the necessary intuitive basis for meaningful understanding.

The Idea of the Soul and Immortality

The idea of absolute permanence or the immortality of the soul extends beyond the field of experience, making it a subject of transcendental illusion.

The World and Cosmological Antinomies

The concept of the world generates four major conflicts, known as antinomies:

• Whether the world is limited by space and time or is infinite.
• Whether causality operates freely or if everything occurs under the deterministic laws of nature.
• Whether the world was created by a necessary being or has always existed.

The Idea of God

The concept of God represents an ideal of reason. Claims about God often attempt to move from the known to the unknowable, as direct experience of God is impossible.

The Impossibility of Metaphysics as a Science

Kant concludes that metaphysics, as a science, is ultimately impossible. Its conclusions often arise from the illusions and errors of reason, particularly its regulatory or directive ideas. These ideas, while motivating humans to look beyond mere phenomena, do not constitute genuine knowledge because they transcend the boundaries of possible experience.

Intellectual Knowledge and Experience

Intellectual knowledge cannot transcend experience if it is to remain valid. In this context, Kant distinguishes between:

• Phenomena: These are the sensible manifestations of objects as they appear to the subject. Human knowledge is derived from sensory input, concepts, and understanding, all situated within space and time.
• Noumena: These are things-in-themselves, existing independently of the subject and beyond our experience. While we can think the noumenon, we cannot know it. The noumenon highlights the limitations of sensory knowledge and pure understanding.

Conclusion: Synthetic a priori Judgments

Kant's transcendental analytic demonstrates that synthetic a priori judgments are possible in fields like physics. The pure concepts of physics are grounded in experience and must be verified through it, leading to universal and necessary laws.