Notes:
Peter Holmes wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 9:47 am
Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 8:06 am
Peter Holmes wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2024 7:47 am
Kant didn't
recognise things-in-themselves. He
invented them, in order to define them out of existence. And you've been suckered by this trick.
OK, the term "recognize" used wrongly here.
What Kant did was, he labelled what [the thing] the p-realists claimed ideologically as absolutely independent of the human condition, the thing-in-itself.
He then proved the thing-in-itself when claimed as real is actually an illusion.
Further, this thing-in-itself [absolutely independent thing] is claimed by theists as an entity with agency, i.e. an independent God.
I have argued, what you claimed as an independent things is a thing-in-itself.
Do you have a counter for this.
PH's (et. al.) Thing is a Thing-in-Itself
viewtopic.php?t=42433
Prove to me the thing you claim as existing absolutely independent of the human conditions is not what Kant termed as a thing-in-itself.
A thing-in-itself is literally the same as your definition, i.e. a thing existing absolutely independent of the human conditions; it exists regardless of whether there are humans or not.
1 Explain exactly what a thing-in-itself actually is.
2 Prove that things-in-themselves don't exist.
1 Explain exactly what a thing-in-itself actually is.
I have explained the thing-in-itself aka noumenon many times and have even raised specific threads on it, but you cannot grasp nor understand [not agree with] the concept.
Here again,
In the preface and elsewhere Kant has listed and explained there are loads of problem when philosophers of his past ASSUMED there is something that exists as real beyond the empirical.
Substance theory, or substance–attribute theory, is an ontological theory positing that objects are constituted each by a substance and properties borne by the substance but distinct from it. In this role, a substance can be referred to as a substratum or a
thing-in-itself.[1][2]
Substances are particulars that are ontologically independent: t
hey are able to exist all by themselves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_theory
See Criticism to the above;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance ... #Criticism
The above is ideologized as philosophical realism or metaphysical realism:
Philosophical realism – ...– is the view that a certain kind of
thing (ranging widely from abstract objects like numbers to moral statements to the physical world itself) has mind-independent existence, i.e. that it exists even in the absence of any mind perceiving it or that its existence is not just a mere appearance in the eye of the beholder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism
The "thing" within philosophical realism is the literally the thing-in-itself which is the thing or object within Substance Theory.
In your case, while the terms may be different, the above thing-in-itself is the same as you what is object, thing or fact, i.e.
a fact is a feature of reality which is the case, a state of affairs, just-is that is absolutely independent of the human conditions' of opinions, beliefs, and judgment, i.e. it exists absolutely regardless of whether there are humans or not.
So your claim of what is fact or thing of reality is literally a thing-in-itself as coined by Kant.
2 Prove that things-in-themselves don't exist.
Protocol wise, the onus is on you to prove a positive claim that the thing-in-itself [fact, thing, object] exists as
real.
In the CPR Kant wrote [mine]:
Kant in CPR wrote:[1.] If Intuition [of Objects] must conform to the constitution of the Objects [as Things-in-themselves], I do not see how we could know anything of the latter [the Objects as Things-in-Themselves] a priori
[2.] but if the Object (as Object of the Senses) must conform to the constitution of our Faculty of Intuition, I have no difficulty in conceiving such a possibility. [as Object of the Senses].
Bxvii
In the above [1] [when a thing is assumed to be a thing-in-itself] Kant stated we cannot
know the object if it is constituted as a thing-in-itself, i.e. absolutely independent of the human conditions [intuition].
Note "our faculty of intuition" [2]
What humans can
know is only via its intuition[sensible] and realized via empirical evidence.
As such, what is known as real is contingent upon the human conditions.
What is real is with reference to human-based science as the most credible and objective.
The concept of 'know' is extended from emergence and realization of reality as implied in the whole context of the CPR.
Now it is your turn;
prove your thing-in-itself [what is fact] exists as real and is absolutely independent of the human conditions?
Btw, if you refer to science, it is human-based and science only generate polished conjectures [hypothesis] and do not confirm things exist as thing-in-itself beyond its scope.
In addition, at best science merely
assumes thing-in-themselves exist as a guide but never taken as really real.
.................
Peter Holmes wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 3:41 pm
Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2024 3:02 am
In the CPR Kant wrote [mine]:
Kant in CPR wrote:[1.] If Intuition [of Objects] must conform to the constitution of the Objects [as Things-in-themselves], I do not see how we could know anything of the latter [the Objects as Things-in-Themselves] a priori
[2.] but if the Object (as Object of the Senses) must conform to the constitution of our Faculty of Intuition, I have no difficulty in conceiving such a possibility. [as Object of the Senses].
Bxvii
In the above [1] [when a thing is assumed to be a thing-in-itself] Kant stated we cannot
know the object if it is constituted as a thing-in-itself, i.e. absolutely independent of the human conditions [intuition].
With or without your square-bracket glosses, none of this is about reality - what actually is. It's all about what humans do or can
know.
Notice this: '...I do not see how we could
know anything of the latter [the Objects as Things-in-Themselves] a priori[.]' Kant is
not saying there's no such thing as 'the constitution of the Objects [as Things-in-themselves]' - but only that we can't know what that is, a priori.
So - leaving aside the dodgy a priori/a posteriori distinction - this extract provides no evidence for your anti-realist reading of Kant.
I have quoted many times [raised a thread on it], in the CPR Kant claimed his philosophy is that of ANTIrealism i.e. Kant opposed and reject philosophical realism.
Kant: a Transcendental Idealist & Empirical Realist
viewtopic.php?t=42073
I have a list of all the threads I have raised here.
Kant never agreed that reality and things pre-existed humans [exist as things-in-themselves] awaiting to be discovered by humans as presumed by the philosophical realists [e.g. you].
Kant is basically a constructivist; as such, reality is on an emergence basis.
I also have raised threads on constructivism.
In the above [1] [when a thing is assumed to be a thing-in-itself] Kant stated we cannot
know the object if it is constituted as a thing-in-itself, i.e. absolutely independent of the human conditions [intuition].
In this case, there is nothing real to be known since there is no emergence of things to be realized and known.
Kant did mention the noumenon is unknowable as a convenience to avoid explaining all the related details [done somewhere in the CRP]; this does not imply there is something out there yet to be known.
What he meant is the thing-in-itself by definition is impossible to be known as real.
My point;
what you defined as fact, i.e. a feature of reality that is the case, state of affairs or just-is which is independent of the individuals' opinion, beliefs and judgments, i.e. exists regardless whether there are humans or not, is exactly what Kant defined as the noumenon aka thing-in-itself. This is basically the absolutely human[mind] independence of philosophy realism.
You et. al. and theists are both ideologically philosophical realists.
While you [atheist] limit your things-in-themselves to the human-independent 'physical' world, the theists stretch the idea [absolute mind-independent] of a human independent thing-in-itself, i.e. God.
It from here that Kant demonstrate it is impossible to prove God exists as real because it [stretched as a the father of thing-in-itself] is illusory to start with.