Question

After explaining the difference between phenomena and noumena for Kant, critically discuss how he contrasts his “transcendental idealism” with the form of idealism that he attributes to Berkeley.

Answer 1

According to Kant, it is essential to distinguish between the distinct realms of phenomena and that of noumena. The former are appearances which constitute our experiences. The latter are presumed things which appear to make sense of reality. All apriori judgements theerfore are phenomenal. By applying the pure forms of sensible intuition and the pure concepts of the understanding, we achieve a systematic view of the phenomenal realm but learn nothing of the noumenal realm. Math and science are certainly true of the phenomena; only metaphysics claims to instruct us about the noumena. This means that the latter is more based on complex and abstract ideas whereas the the former is based on one-to-one direct and concrete experiences one undergoes. As one of the founders of philosophical thought, he held that the human self, or transcendental ego, constructs knowledge out of sense impressions and from universal concepts called categories that it imposes upon them. Upn having direct and concrete experiences, we use our own innate understanding to make sense of our reality is what he suggested. The difference between his thoughts and that of Berkeley is that he established that there are no reality in itself. 'It is all in the mind' whereas Kant argued that the outside world exists independently of the observer, but we can never know it's true nature. Kant in his findings had often shared that humans make their own judgements to make sense of tangible experiences, whether or not they may be true.