PSY 4130 Lecture 9: Immanuel Kant and Evolution
5 Jun 2018
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Lecture 9: Immanuel Kant and Evolution
A German Rationalist
He was motivated by a desire to demolish the skepticism that Hume brought to philosophy.
Hume had argued that truths were based on subjective experience. Kant agreed with Humes assertion
that we cannot prove causation, and that nothing in human experience proves causation.
Sensory data is important, but to create knowledge the mind must add something to sensory data.
That which is added can be seen as categories of through which exists
a priori
. Kant proposed the
innate existence of categories of thought, including time, space, reality, quantity, quality, existence-
nonexistence, possibility-impossibility, unity, cause and effect, and negation. Kant was proposing
that we are equipped with an innate classification scheme which allows us to generalize from our
own particular experiences.
We are never experience the physical world directly; it is always perceived through the filer of our
senses. Whereas Hume believed only in sensory impressions, Kant posited a built in organizational
scheme. The interaction between sensation and categories of our thought create our
phenomenological experience.
Kant & the Phenomenological Experience
Whereas experience is subjective, phenomenology attempts to make experience object by considering
perceptions and emotions.
• accept qualitative research method
• first-person experiences may differ, the structures should be the same
Nature Nurture
It is likely that Kant was instrumental in advocating the existence of innate factors in the make-up of
the human mind. His thought has influenced work in the areas of language, perception, problem-
solving, and cognitive development.
The work of James Gibson invoked affordances, which are Kantian devices. Likewise, Elenor Gibson
work on the visual cliff draws on Kant.
Implications for cognition, perception, learning, social, biological.
James Mill (1773-1839)
A British empiricist, trained as a clergymen, ideas and sensations make up the human mind.
Complex are created from simple ideas.
When ideas occur (or are experienced) together the conscious mind perches them as one idea;
Similarly, an external object is a cluster of sensations that we have consistently experienced in
association with each other.
A complex idea can be broken down into simple ideas, and the other ideas can be added to make an
idea more complex.
Associationism: consistent with Newton, the universe is held together with different logical forces
Document Summary
He was motivated by a desire to demolish the skepticism that hume brought to philosophy. Hume had argued that truths were based on subjective experience. Kant agreed with humes assertion that we cannot prove causation, and that nothing in human experience proves causation. Sensory data is important, but to create knowledge the mind must add something to sensory data. That which is added can be seen as categories of through which exists a priori. Kant proposed the innate existence of categories of thought, including time, space, reality, quantity, quality, existence- nonexistence, possibility-impossibility, unity, cause and effect, and negation. Kant was proposing that we are equipped with an innate classification scheme which allows us to generalize from our own particular experiences. We are never experience the physical world directly; it is always perceived through the filer of our senses. Whereas hume believed only in sensory impressions, kant posited a built in organizational scheme.
