A-Z: General definitions: Immanuel Kant

Definition

1724 - 1804, German philosopher whose ideas significantly influenced the Romantics as well as contemporary philosophy. Kant argued that all knowledge derives from experience, yet is dependent on a priori or ‘transcendental’ structures in the mind, such as the concepts of time and space. He also argued that notions such as God, freedom and eternity were similarly part of this transcendental realm, unknowable (because they cannot be experienced directly) but nevertheless necessary for humans to make sense of reality.

• Tweet