In what way was Kant's revolution in epistemology similar to Copernicus' revolution in astronomy?
1 Answer
Copernicus changed the center of the universe away from the earth, and man.
Kant changed the center of philosophy from being human reason and empirical observation to subjective a priori assumptions.
Explanation:
Before Copernicus the world view was that the earth was the center of the universe. Mankind was the center of the universe.
Copernicus showed that the sun was the center of the solar system. This completely unset the scientific world view of the universe.
Before Kant the Enlightenment had decried that human reason, rationalism, and empirical observation were the only means of knowledge. Mankind was the center of what could be known.
Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason. upset this world view.
Kant showed that Cartiesian dualism of empirical evidence and human reason was faulty. He showed that Human reason could not be the ultimate source of truth. Enlightenment philosophy had ruled out any reference to the supernatural (or God). This left no source of ultimate truth.
Kant relies on a priori truths that seem reasonable to the human mind. Empirical observations can create noumena in the human mind. These noumena may or may not relate to objective reality. Objective reality is unknowable according to Kant. The human mind uses noumena a priori knowledge and human reason to create phenomenon. Phenomenon is the reality created inside the human mind.
In Kant's post enlightenment philosophy the internal beauty of an idea is more important than any empirical observations. Empirical observations can not be trusted because the observations are subjectively influenced by the human mind.
Kant's theories allowed the widespread acceptance of theories like Marx's and Darwin's. The internal beauty of these theories are more important than any empirical evidence that the theories actually work.
