Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer

Kant 1724-1804

Kant is the founder of German Idealism. One of his most famous works titled 'The Critique of knowledge' concludes that mind exists over matter. His other famous book called 'The Critique of Pure Reason' outlines that our knowledge is apriori, he does not agree with empiricists thus does not believe our knowledge comes from experience.

Analytic propositions = True by definition, no further knowledge is required. 

Synthetic propositions = True by observation, they tell us something about the world. e.g "All bodies have weight". 

There are two classes of knowledge:

Apriori = before experience - matter of ideas

Aposteriori = after experience - matter of fact

Phenomena = the creation of the mind

Noumena = the real 'thing in itself' 

Kant holds that immediate objects of perception are due partly to external things and partly to our own perceptive apparatus. What we perceive appears in two parts:

1. The object which is called 'sensation'

2. Subjective Apparatus

Kant says that God, Freedom, and Immortality are the three ideas of reason and pure reason leads us to form these ideas.

Space and time are necessary pre-conditions for existence. God is the only thing that could exist outside of space and time, so Kant moves God in to the realm of agnosticism. If you are an agnostic, which Kant is, then you believe that the existence of God is unknowable. He may or may not exist, but there is no need for a creator or first cause (God) because cause and effect are mental phenomena. 

Ethics - Philosophical study of moral action

Consequentialism - divides right from wrong based on the consequences of an action 'end justifies the means'

Deontology- position that consequences don't matter because moral judgement is contained in the act alone

^ This is what Kant believes in, as he believes we have an inner moral law.

Categorical Imperative - Morality is derived from rationality; all moral judgments are rational. 

Three Maxims:

1. Universality - only do it if you think it would be okay for everybody to do it all the time.

2. End Vs Means - everyone is their own rational agent and no one person can be manipulated, we should never lie.

3. Behave as though you are the moral authority of the entire universe. 

His gravestone inscription reads... "My life has been guided by two great mysteries - The starry heavens above and the moral law within."

Kant comes first and Hegel and Schopenhauer are his pupils, but also his rivals. Hegel was as significant and dominant in 19th European Philosophy as Aristotle was in the middle ages. 

Hegel 1770-1831
Hegel is a historicist, he brings history into philosophy for the first time. He is a strong believer in "things happen for a reason." Hegel believes nothing is completely real except the 'whole' which he called the 'absolute'. He only classified the large organism known as the whole to be real, anything that was separate and thus small units were not part of reality.

Hegel believes "change is the only constant" meaning the only thing that does not change is change.

The Triad- Thesis, Antithesis, Sythesis
The thesis is the idea, the antithesis is the opposing idea, and the synthesis is the new proposition of the thesis and antithesis combined. The logic is that you need two opposing ideas, because nothing can exist without an opposite.
A good example to use is 'Good and Evil'. How would you know what was good on this earth if you didn't know what was evil? Without knowing the opposite you wouldn't know it existed.

Hegel describes the state as an 'organic state', he feels it should not restrain people from doing what they want and that it should give citizens independence as well as uphold the life and property.
Zeitgeist - 'Zeit' meaning time and 'Geist' meaning universal soul : 'Spirit of the times'
Hegel uses the term 'geist' to describe the state, as it is the free soul of the universe; his idea of freedom is to obey the law, he believes that without law there is no freedom.

Schopenhauer 1788 - 1860

Schopenhauer disliked Christianity, he preferred religions of India such as Buddhism and Hinduism.
The noumena of the universe as a thing in itself - 'The Will' - everything that exists has a will.