Kant’s Transcendental Idealism: Mind, Metaphysics, Freedom, and Ethics

Catalog description

Kant’s transcendental idealism is a revolutionary approach to philosophy that says there is a difference between phenomena (things as we experience them) and noumena (things in themselves). We experience phenomena in space and time, but noumena transcend space and time. Science can only explain phenomena, but ethics tells us something about noumena. Ethics tells us about our own noumenal natures as human beings, and it is because of our noumenal natures that we have free will, rights, and responsibilities. This class explores and critiques these ideas and their implications for his views about other topics, which may include consciousness, free will, personal identity, non-human intelligences, mysticism, moral psychology, political philosophy, and criminal justice. This class explores Kant’s views and applies them to contemporary philosophy.