Transcendental idealism

Transcendental idealism is a doctrine founded by 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant which was influential in much subsequent German philosophy. Despite this influence, it was a subject of some debate amongst 20th century philosophers exactly how to interpret this doctrine, which Kant first describes in his Critique of Pure Reason. Kant distinguished his view from contemporary views of realism and idealism, but philosophers are not agreed upon what difference Kant draws.

Henry Allison

In Kant's Transcendental Idealism, Henry Allison proposes a reading in opposition to Strawson's interpretation. Allison argues that Strawson and others take Kant too literally in discussing a world of phenomena, making the doctrine of transcendental idealism seem untenable by assuming that Kant oscillated between two different concepts of "appearance." In Allison's reading, Kant's view is better characterized as a two-aspect theory, where noumena and phenomena refer to aspects of a single reality, and thus Kant is a neutral monist. It is the discursive character of human sensibility rather than epistemological humility that Kant asserted.

Related Topics:
Henry Allison - Neutral monist - Epistemological

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