some important notes! for the file titled “kant reading”, it is the reading to be cited for the essay. file titled “kant handout” is just simplified notes from my lectures. the file titled “hy2012papertopics” includes the topics, rubrics + instructions for the paper!
topic for the essay is topic #4 in the “hy2012papertopics”, i’ve copied it below.
Kant resists the charge that he is an idealist. He responds to this charge as follows:
Idealism consists in the assertion that there are none but thinking beings; all other things which we believe are perceived in intuitions are nothing but representations in the thinking beings, to which no object external to them in fact corresponds. On the contrary, I say that things as objects of our senses existing outside us are given, but we know nothing of what they may be in themselves, knowing only their appearances, i.e., the representations which they cause in us by affecting our senses. Consequently, I grant by all means that there are bodies without us, that is, things which, though quite unknown to us as to what they are in themselves, we yet know by the representations which their influence on our sensibility procures us, and which we call bodies. This word merely means the appearance of the thing, which is unknown to us but is not therefore less real. Can this be termed idealism? It is the very contrary. (Prol. AK 289)
Write an essay in response to the following points:
(1) Why does Kant deny that he is an idealist? Explain his reasoning.
(2) What position is Kant defending in the passage above? Feel free to draw on other relevant texts to answer this question.
(3) Is Kants position compelling? Why or why not? For example, can it solve a basic problem that other early modern philosophers fail to resolve? Alternatively, is Kants philosophy well-equipped to explain how we gain empirical knowledge, or what metaphysics amounts to?
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