Journal of Philosophical Investigations

نوع مقاله : مقاله علمی- پژوهشی

نویسنده

Philosopher, Scholarship of Fools Philosophy, USA

چکیده

This paper examines the work of Immanuel Kant in the light of a new theory on the nature of truth, knowledge and falsehood (the Inversion Theory of Truth). Kant’s idea that knowledge could be absolutely certain, and that its truth must correspond with reality, is discredited by a dissection of the Correspondence Theory of Truth. This examination of the nature of truth, as well as knowledge and falsehood, is conducted with reference to Sir Karl Popper’s writings on regulative ideas, the criterion of demarcation and the principle of falsifiability. It is argued that if truth is to be regarded as certain, it should be used to describe objects and events in the objective (noumenal) state, and that subjective knowledge must contain (and is improved by) falsehood. Perceptions and knowledge are obtained by the biological and evolutionary process of Active Subjectivism. Ideas we have knowledge of can be metaphysical or scientific, according to Popper’s Criterion of Demarcation. Kant’s “Copernican revolution” claim that our intellect imposes absolutely true laws on nature could not allow for the possibility that ideas might be constructed from fallible perceptions, and hence that all knowledge is uncertain. Instead, he developed a Critique of Practical Reason in which religion, though not provable through logical reasoning, could be proved by our innate moral sense, giving us a Categorical Imperative that could lead to perverse results. By rejecting the absolute certainty of a priori knowledge, and admitting a degree of essential falsehood, we arrive at a more reasonable grounding for moral behavior.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات

عنوان مقاله [English]

An Evaluation of Kant’s Transcendental Idealism Using the Inversion Theory of Truth

نویسنده [English]

  • Peter Lugten

Philosopher, Scholarship of Fools Philosophy, USA

چکیده [English]

This paper examines the work of Immanuel Kant in the light of a new theory on the nature of truth, knowledge and falsehood (the Inversion Theory of Truth). Kant’s idea that knowledge could be absolutely certain, and that its truth must correspond with reality, is discredited by a dissection of the Correspondence Theory of Truth. This examination of the nature of truth, as well as knowledge and falsehood, is conducted with reference to Sir Karl Popper’s writings on regulative ideas, the criterion of demarcation and the principle of falsifiability. It is argued that if truth is to be regarded as certain, it should be used to describe objects and events in the objective (noumenal) state, and that subjective knowledge must contain (and is improved by) falsehood. Perceptions and knowledge are obtained by the biological and evolutionary process of Active Subjectivism. Ideas we have knowledge of can be metaphysical or scientific, according to Popper’s Criterion of Demarcation. Kant’s “Copernican revolution” claim that our intellect imposes absolutely true laws on nature could not allow for the possibility that ideas might be constructed from fallible perceptions, and hence that all knowledge is uncertain. Instead, he developed a Critique of Practical Reason in which religion, though not provable through logical reasoning, could be proved by our innate moral sense, giving us a Categorical Imperative that could lead to perverse results. By rejecting the absolute certainty of a priori knowledge, and admitting a degree of essential falsehood, we arrive at a more reasonable grounding for moral behavior.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • inversion theory of truth
  • active subjectivism
  • essential falsehood
  • representational inexactitude
  • falsifiability
  • transcendental idealism
  • categorical imperative
Chomski, N. (2006). Language and Mind. Cambridge University Press.
Deutsch, D. (2011). The Beginning of Infinity; Explanations that Transform the World. Viking Press.
Hanna, R. (2023). Three Futuristic Kantian Ideas (July 2023 Version). Academia.com
Kane, R. H. (2000). Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd ed. Lecture 50 the Great Courses, Chantilly, VA.
Kant, I. (1787). Critique of Pure Reason, Pt 1 - A Transcendental Doctrine of Elements.
Kant, I. (1788). Critique of Practical Reason.
Kant, I. (1800). Introduction to logic. Reprinted (2005), Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (trans.), Dennis Sweet (intro), Barnes and Noble.
 Kessler, G. & et al. (2020). President Trump Has Made More Than 20,000 False or Misleading Claims. Washington Post, July 13.
Lettvin & et al. (1959). What the Frog’s Eye Tells the Frog’s Brain? Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 49: 1940-1951.
Lugten, P. (2021). The Self, Its Brain, and a Solution to the Body-Mind Problem. Scholarshipoffoolsphilosophy.com/articles
Lugten, P. (2023). If God Intends You to Be Born. Free Inquiry, 43(3), 53–55.
Popper, K. R. (1945). The Open Society and its Enemies. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Popper, K. R. (1963). Conjectures and Refutations. Routledge and Keegan Paul.
Popper, K. R. (1972). Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford University Press.
Rovelli, C. (2018). The Order of Time. Penguin.
Weiskrantz L. & et al. (1974). Visual capacity in the hemianopic field following a restricted occipital ablation. Brain. 97(4), 709-28. doi:10.1093/brain/97.1.709 PMID 4434190
CAPTCHA Image