Pre Theme 1

Theory of knowledge and theory of science 

1. In the preface to the second edition of "Critique of Pure Reason" (page B xvi) Kant says: "Thus far it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to objects. On that presupposition, however, all our attempts to establish something about them a priori, by means of concepts through which our cognition would be expanded, have come to nothing. Let us, therefore, try to find out by experiment whether we shall not make better progress in the problems of metaphysics if we assume that objects must conform to our cognition." How are we to understand this?

Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' reflects on how we should understand the self-awareness of reason. In his assessment, reason cannot be justified by ascribing them to different personal experiences but by approaching the science of metaphysics, the fundamental nature of things.
The Copernican Revolution claimed a change in the perception of metaphysics and instituted a modern view of long standing established conceptions. Where reason before revolved around – or as Kant puts it 'conformed to' – objects that shape our perception, now the objects must conform to reason. Reason is therefore the central measure of perception.

As I understand it, reason should a priori construct principles in respect to comprehensive appearances in nature, and then it should act in its own judge by testing these rules with experiments. This is necessary for the purity of cognition and to avoid errors of assessment that would exist if we base our cognition on more narrow precast experiences instead of our capacious imagination.

2. At the end of the discussion of the definition "Knowledge is perception", Socrates argues that we do not see and hear "with" the eyes and the ears, but "through" the eyes and the ears. How are we to understand this? And in what way is it correct to say that Socrates argument is directed towards what we in modern terms call "empiricism"?

The preposition 'With' declares that we all have eyes and ears as part of our human anatomy and therefore would experience everything similar to each other. 'Through', though, suggests that – although we have the same instruments of perception and of experiencing knowledge – we personally perceive everything around us very differently depending on our own personal interpretation. Knowledge relates therefore to our perception and with that to our own mind, education, practise, reflection, vision and analysis.

As told in our past lecture a lot of questions give room to a lot of answers multiplied by a lot of interpretations. Knowledge is therefore very dependent on the human himself and which experiences shape him throughout his whole life. Hence, the term 'empiricism' declares that we all learn through our own sensory experience and produce different results always in relation to our subjective reflection.
 

Gutenberg.org, 2003. The Critique of Pure Reason [online]. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4280/4280-h/4280-h.htm [Accessed at 1 Sept. 2015].

Gutenberg.org, 2008. Theaetetus, by Plato [online]. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1726/1726-h/1726-h.htm [Accessed at 1 Sept. 2015].