Kant’s Copernican Revolution
Moving the center of epistemology to the active mind
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804, rhymes with “want”) is the single most influential philosopher in history, even though you have probably never heard of him. How we think of ourselves and how we think about how we perceive the world is from Kant’s philosophy. Philosophy is a long conversation. Immanuel Kant formed a significant turning point in that conversation. And Kant was inspired by Hume, who was inspired by Berkeley, who was inspired by Locke, who was inspired by Descartes, who was inspired by Augustine, who was inspired by Plotinus, who was inspired by Plato. It really was a long conversation.
There are two eras of philosophy: before Kant and after Kant. Again, and I can’t emphasize this enough, how we think about human perception is based on Kant’s philosophy. All subsequent continental philosophy is based on Kant, and he inspired the field of psychology. You’ll see why as we explore his insights into the structure of the human mind.
