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Full Idea
Kant's philosophy is the contradiction of essence and existence; essence lies in the mind and existence in the senses; existence without essence is mere appearance, and essence without existence is mere idea.
Gist of Idea
For Kant, essence is mental and a mere idea, and existence is the senses and mere appearance
Source
report of Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781]) by Ludwig Feuerbach - Principles of Philosophy of the Future §22
Book Ref
Feuerbach,Ludwig: 'Principles of the Philosophy of the Future', ed/tr. Vogel,M [Hackett 1986], p.35
A Reaction
The Sartrean challenge is that existence without essence is not mere appearance, but is the central feature of reality as it actually is. One might even flirt with the slogan 'existence is essence'.
| 3635 | Essence must be known before we discuss existence [Descartes] |
| 6916 | For Kant, essence is mental and a mere idea, and existence is the senses and mere appearance [Kant, by Feuerbach] |
| 5650 | Reason is just abstractions, so our essence needs a subjective 'leap of faith' [Kierkegaard, by Scruton] |
| 14808 | Over huge periods of time human character would change endlessly [Nietzsche] |
| 20130 | It is absurd to think you can change your own essence, like a garment [Nietzsche] |
| 15572 | Being what it is (essentia) must be conceived in terms of Being (existence) [Heidegger] |
| 6868 | 'Existence precedes essence' means we have no pre-existing self, but create it through existence [Sartre, by Le Poidevin] |
| 3842 | Existence before essence (or begin with the subjective) [Sartre] |
| 6705 | Existentialism may transcend our nature, unlike eudaimonism [Graham] |
| 20733 | Our 'existence' is how we create ourselves, unconstrained by any prior 'essence' [Aho] |