Single Idea 6577

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism]

Full Idea

For Kant, the conceptual apparatus that structures our experience for us will inevitably lead to intellectual disasters when it is applied to matters completely beyond experience.

Gist of Idea

For Kant, our conceptual scheme is disastrous when it reaches beyond experience

Source

report of Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781]) by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.3

Book Reference

Fogelin,Robert: 'Walking the Tightrope of Reason' [OUP 2004], p.71


A Reaction

This is the empiricist side of Kant, influenced by Hume. I don't agree with Kant on this. I just think that speculation and abstract theory are much more difficult and error-prone than science, because you can't keep checking against raw facts.