Shanta billingslea Immanuel Kant wanted to bring together empiricist and rationalist. Empiricism is the theory the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Rationalism is the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge. Empiricists tried to understand Kant’s epistemological theory through reason. In the field of epistemology no body surpasses philosopher Immanuel Kant, even in modern philosophy nobody has come close to further explaining his views. His viewpoint affects most every other kind of philosophy. The empiricists tried to begin understanding epistemology through knowing and understanding the external world, Kant believed that it was the human that creates or imposes itself on the external world when pertaining to certain things and knowledge. Where Descartes understood the relationship between the mind and the world and how we process information. Kant thought this interaction was impossible, he went on to expose the logical error Descartes was never able to fully appreciate, in particular that no matter where or what is happening to a person at any given time that same person cannot say that what is happening is really existing . The link between the person and the unknown was never really made substantial and therefore everything would have to be questioned.
The most important thing about to epistemology is the distinction between analytic judgments and synthetic judgments. Analytical judgments are based on the law of non-contradiction. This knowledge is a priori which knowledge that is independent upon experience is,. On the other hand, synthetic judgments provide us with new knowledge of the world and rely on the ability to synthesize the subject with the predicate. In this manner, synthetic judgments form reason, forming the ability to rationally progress through logical statements. Synthetic judgments, according to Kant, are both a priori and a posteriori. As a priori judgments, synthetic knowledge is obtained independent from external experience of the subject. A posteriori judgment is obtained through interaction with the external world In a priori judgments which is more controversial Kant says that there are judgments which give us knowledge of the world. This is Kant’s is explanation for mathematical things and judgments about phenomena. For example ‘all events have a cause’ is not empirically based we can never be certain that one cause is the reason for such event.
Another point in epistemology is the distinction between the phenomena and noumena. As mentioned above, the Copernican revolution for Kant requires that the person be understood as the beginning point for knowledge. We can never escape our limitations and judge our interactions between ourselves and external world. Kant say ‘I think’ is basically the definition for knowledge and seek it which is not subjective. In this way Kant rejects both the empiricist and rationalist positions. Rationalists tend to believe there is a world exists with space and time conditions. Empiricists believe the world is unlimited. By rejecting both of these positions .Kant says that there is a separation between what exists in its
