HCJ2 - Kant and Hegel

Tuesday's lecture was about the German philosophers Kant and Hegel. They both have complicated, mind boggling ideas, I'll try and explain them the best I can!

Kant

The Critique of Pure Reason

Kant's book The Critique of Pure Reason criticised empiricists and empirical ideas. Kant said that none of our knowledge comes from experience, our knowledge is 'a priori' or by reasoning.

Kant looked at 4 propositions:

Analytical propositions: The conclusion is already in the subject of the sentence e.g. 'a tall man is a man'. These are also called 'deductive truths', these are true by definition. To say that 'a tall man isn't a man' would be a contradiction.

Synthetic propostions: The statement 'Tuesday was a wet day' is one that can't be proved. Kant wouldn't admit that synthetic propositions are known through experience.

A priori propositions: These link to analytical propositions because they are drawn from experience and can be based on other ideas. The best example of an a priori is Descartes' Cogito 'I think therefore I am'. There are two types of a priori - analytical and synthetic.

Analytical a priori is a statement that goes nowhere and nothing can be used from these and are just basic tautologies e.g. 'the world is the world'.

Synthetic a priori is the development of an a priori idea and extra knowledge is added. An example of this is the possible existence of other planets/worlds.

Kant also discussed God's existence using 3 arguments, he used the Ontological argument to say that God is the ultimate being so must exist. He used the Cosmological argument to say that for anything to exist, an absolute being must exists and this is God. Finally, the Physico-Theological argument says that the universe has an order, which is evidence of the world having purpose. The moral laws we have prove that God exists.


Hegel

According to Hegel, history has a purpose and that every happens for a reason and was interested in the processes involved in history.

He opposed Kantian ideas and held similar views to those of Hobbes.

Hegel said that Ancient Greece was the main thesis of European thought and society. Hegel envisaged an 'organic state' that would be ruled in a way that takes people's true nature into account. He said that the Prussian and Ancient Greek states were close to this perfect state.

TB 2012