“Alleszermalmer der Metaphysik“( translated: “the destroyer of metaphysics“) is one of the surnames uttered by one of Kant’s fellow philosophers in his age, Moses Mendelsson( 1729-1786 ). This surname was given to Kant in response to his famous work “Kritik der reinen Vernunft“( translated: “Critique of Pure Reason“) , written in 1781. This interpretation of Kant’s work is commonly referenced and has widely spread although it is not what Kant intended to say with his book.
What he criticised
One Quote from the “Critique of Pure Reason“ explains his point very well: “What may be the nature of objects considered as things in themselves and without reference to the receptivity of our sensibility is quite unknown to us. Not only are the raindrops mere appearances, but even their circular form, nay, the space itself through which they fall, is nothing in itself, but both are mere modifications or fundamental dispositions of our sensible intuition, whilst the transcendental object remains for us utterly unknown. “
In this text Kant points out that something like metaphysical knowledge that is universal can not exist. He refers to the universal truth about an object as “things in themselves“. He thinks that all of the knowledge we as humans can posses is in relation to the individual and the capacity of our senses. But that does not mean that Kant thinks that the object in itself doesn’t exist, he just thinks that we can not know anything about this object in itself that he refers to as the “transcendental object“.
Kant uses the example of rain drops: We can’t know what the raindrops in themselves are but the raindrops, their form and the space they fall through are only products of our intuition.
Kant’s defense of metaphysics
While Kant didn’t think that we can have knowledge about transcendental objects he doesn’t oppose thinking about metaphysical questions and arriving at reasonable and well-founded conclusions concerning these questions. What he does oppose is thinking that these conclusions are a universal truth. This is the part that is often misunderstood when talking about Kants stance on metaphysics.
Conclusion
While it is true that Kant critisizes the way that metaphysical theories are classified as knowledge he is on the other hand in favour of doing metaphysics and having a justified opinion on questions in metaphysics.
(Img source: https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/philosophie/immanuel-kant-leben-und-werk_id_5604602.html)
Want to learn more about metaphysics? Check out my last article that goes more in-deph on this topic: https://steemit.com/philosophy/@apartphilosopher/branches-of-philosophy-i-metaphysics
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