transcendental idealism

E14264

epistemological doctrine metaphysical position philosophical theory theory of knowledge

Transcendental idealism is Immanuel Kant’s influential theory that human experience of objects is shaped by the mind’s a priori structures, so we can know phenomena as they appear to us but not things-in-themselves.

Aliases (3)

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	epistemological doctrine → metaphysical position → philosophical theory → theory of knowledge →
aimsToSolve	problem of synthetic a priori knowledge →
claimsAboutScience	empirical science is valid within the realm of possible experience →
coreClaim	human cognition structures experience through a priori forms and categories → we can know objects only as they appear to us, not as they are in themselves →
criticizedBy	Arthur Schopenhauer → Bertrand Russell → G. E. Moore → logical positivists →
developedBy	Immanuel Kant →
distinguishes	noumena → phenomena →
grounds	the possibility of objective experience →
historicalPeriod	18th century philosophy →
holdsAboutNoumena	noumena are things-in-themselves that cannot be known theoretically →
holdsAboutPhenomena	phenomena are objects as they appear under the conditions of human sensibility and understanding →
influenced	20th-century epistemology → Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling → Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel → Johann Gottlieb Fichte → Neo-Kantianism → analytic philosophy of mind → constructivist epistemology → contemporary Kant scholarship → phenomenology →
limits	the scope of theoretical reason →
mainWork	Critique of Pure Reason →
mediatesBetween	empiricism → rationalism →
method	transcendental argument → transcendental deduction →
opposes	empirical idealism → transcendent metaphysics that claims knowledge of things-in-themselves →
philosophicalMovement	German idealism →
philosophicalTradition	German philosophy →
relatedDoctrine	Copernican revolution in philosophy →
usesConcept	a priori forms of intuition → categories of the understanding → space → synthetic a priori judgments → time → transcendental apperception →
viewOnCausality	causality is a category imposed by the understanding on appearances →
viewOnObjects	objects of experience are constituted through the synthesis of intuitions and concepts →
viewOnSpaceAndTime	space and time are a priori forms of human sensibility, not properties of things-in-themselves →
viewOnThingInItself	the thing-in-itself exists but is unknowable by theoretical reason →

Referenced by (7)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Critique of Pure Reason ("Transcendental Aesthetic") →	containsPart
The System of Ethics →	hasPhilosophicalSchool
Fichtean idealism ("Kantian transcendental idealism") →	influencedBy
Johann Gottlieb Fichte ("Transcendental idealism") →	movement
Immanuel Kant →	notableIdea
Immanuel Kant →	philosophicalSchool
Science of Knowledge →	philosophicalTradition