Pupils:
John (J),
Patricia (P),
Alexis (A),
David (D),
Margie (M),
Viki (V),
Ray (R)
Scribe:
Gavin (G)
Apologies:
Howard (H),
Colin (C)
The homework set
We talked of looking at Romanticism, a movement in philosophy and importantly the arts, which seemed almost to arise as a swing of the pendulum away from Rationalism in the Age of Enlightenment. Poets, novelists, musicians and artists were influenced by the movement.
But of course the philosophical debate had been ongoing: Descartes was the epitome of a Rationalist ("I can work out everything just thinking in my head sitting in my armchair") whereas we have the Empiricists, Rousseau, Hume—the passions ruling, Berkeley ("It's all in the mind") and Locke ("The mind is an empty cupboard needing to be gradually filled up from birth from experience").
Along comes Kant, in the well-named Critique of Pure Reason, who maps out the middle way—"Yes, we build knowledge from experience but the inherent structures and capacities of the mind are required to make sense of the input." Kant is a bridge between the two outlooks.
Having spent time delving into Rousseau and Locke and Empiricism and previously into Descartes, it would, we think, be valuable to devote Tuesday’s meeting to The Critique of Pure Reason rather than trying to dive straight into Romanticism.
The In Our Time episode, Kant's Copernican Revolution, is excellent with three great contributors, so we suggest starting there.
Plenary Session
Introduction(L)
By metaphysics, Kant tends to mean the field of philosophy. Science in those days tended to be called natural philosophy.
Some sciences, such as biology, have been returning to philosophy for help with ethics.
Kant was a scientist, brought up in a rationalist environment.
Descartes as the arch-rationalist believed the armchair philosopher could even prove the existence of God.
Empiricists say all our knowledge comes through senses and experiences.
Hume said there was no evidence of one thing causing another.
Kant believed that the rationalist and empiricist viewpoints were not hermetically sealed compartments. Acting as referee between the two factions, says we do have such evidence: we have awareness of time and space and objects.
We have a natural disposition to make sense of the world.
But moral principles aren’t inherent in the world.
Kant looked for counter-intuitives, as Copernicus had done in showing that the Earth revolved around the Sun rather than vice versa.
Kant believed the world depends on us to make sense of it.
Kant made a distinction between analytic knowledge, based on definitions, and synthetic knowledge, based on experience.
“All swans are white” is an example of synthetic knowledge, which was capable of being disproved eventually by the discovery of black swans.
Discussion
Descartes initially thought mind and body were separate but later believed there is a connection.
Kant transformed philosophy by reimagining the workings of the world.
Kant is hard to understand.(D), (R)
Kant believed human knowledge is limited. We have to learn about the limits of our reason.
Kant: "Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts blind."
Some critics said Kant's philosophy was subjective.
Your world view frames how you see things.(V)
A new-born baby has innate capabilities, such as language learning.(M)
Douglas Adams: "The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate."(A)
Individually we develop the concept of treeness from real-world examples.(V)
We humans have a huge desire to classify.(A)
Kant was much influenced by Rousseau. He believed in the inherent dignity of man.(R)
The longitudinal Harvard Study of Adult Development, started in 1938, has revealed that close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives.(S)
Kant tried to make room for religion in his philosophy. He didn’t want to offend the church.(R)
Kant stated that you cannot know if you’re free or if God exists.
Does Kant feature at all in popular culture? Perhaps more so in Germany?(G)
Jewish religion said we should take an eye for eye. But Jesus said one should turn the other cheek.(V)
Kant believed that a distinction must be drawn between moral principle and the consequences of each decision.
Does Kant give us real freedom in a world of cause and effect? In my world, I have freedom and I change my behaviour accordingly. (S)
Did Kant's theories lead eventually to totalitarianism?(R)
Other topics touched on
Remembering Frank Brierley.
Jane Austen's Emma and Mr Knightley.
The political novels of Anthony Trollope.
The Parable of the Butcher and the Analytic Philosopher and Plato's metaphor as an analogy for the reality of Forms in Phaedrus: like an animal, the world comes to us predivided. Ideally, our best theories will be those which “carve nature at its joints”.
Solipsism.
The Romantic evolution of classical music: from Bach through early Beethoven to Schumann, Bruckner and Mahler.
Different ways to appreciate doing Morris Dancing.
Philosophers on aesthetics. Greeks and the Golden Mean etc.
The relevance of philosophers today. Hobbes and the popular desire for strong leadership in times of uncertainty.
Different philosophical outlooks in China: the citizen as a cog in the machinery of government compared to the US focus on individualism.
Books Referenced:
Immanuel Kant (translated by Lewis Beck (1989). Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Pearson.
Illustrations sourced from Richard Osborne (1993). Philosophy for Beginners. Writers and Readers.
