Browsing by Author "Minimah, Francis Israel"
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- ItemThe influence of Kant’s critical philosophy on Logical Positivism(University of Zululand, 2016-01) Minimah, Francis IsraelThis paper attempts to show the influence of Kant’s critical philosophy on Logical Positivism. In order to achieve this objective, we set out in the first half to examine Kant’s analysis of the nature, limits and conditions of our knowing process. Having established Kant’s position, the burden of the second half is precisely to explore and explicate the relationship between his system and the Logical Positivists. Most studies on the Positivists do not deal with the possibility of an influence exercised by Kant’s transcendental strategy. The more general reason has to do with the mistaken belief that a philosophical theory can be separated from the intellectual culture in which it is articulated. It has become fashionable to evaluate a philosophical position without taking into account either the roots of the idea in the history of philosophy or the way in which the position emerges within a system of thought. This is one reason why the most intriguing part of the twentieth century philosophy has not been understood – not enough attention has been paid to the indebtedness of the Positivists to the Kantian tradition. This work tries to correct the inadequacy of these studies by demonstrating that Kant indeed leaves a lasting influence on the Logical Positivists’ philosophy
- ItemKant’s theory of concept formation and the role of mind(University of Zululand, 2016) Minimah, Francis IsraelThe emphasis of the rationalists on concept formation is traceable to the unfolding of the mind’s innate powers in producing ideas within itself. The empiricists, on the other hand, beginning with the data of experience as the source of all our legitimate concepts and truths of the world, conceive the mind as contributing nothing to the knowing process – a position that had severe negative consequences for human knowledge. Immanuel Kant’s response to his predecessors was to formulate a new theory of concept formation in which he conceives the crucial role our minds play in the determination of the forms of our knowledge. The key to the progression in this paper which shows its most important contribution is not only the attempt to analyze how Kant “sets out to discover and justify the principles underlying objective judgements” but also his arguments that the human mind brings ‘something’ transcendental to the object it experiences. This view, which is revolutionary, represents a turning point in Western philosophy and indicates the need for new conceptual schemes of the mind that became manifest at the beginning of the 19th century. This is tremendously evident in Heidegger’s philosophy and in mentalistic psychology from Freud to Chomsky.
- ItemKant’s theory of concept formation and the role of mind(University of Zululand, 2016-01) Minimah, Francis IsraelThe emphasis of the rationalists on concept formation is traceable to the unfolding of the mind’s innate powers in producing ideas within itself. The empiricists, on the other hand, beginning with the data of experience as the source of all our legitimate concepts and truths of the world, conceive the mind as contributing nothing to the knowing process – a position that had severe negative consequences for human knowledge. Immanuel Kant’s response to his predecessors was to formulate a new theory of concept formation in which he conceives the crucial role our minds play in the determination of the forms of our knowledge. The key to the progression in this paper which shows its most important contribution is not only the attempt to analyze how Kant “sets out to discover and justify the principles underlying objective judgements” but also his arguments that the human mind brings ‘something’ transcendental to the object it experiences. This view, which is revolutionary, represents a turning point in Western philosophy and indicates the need for new conceptual schemes of the mind that became manifest at the beginning of the 19th century. This is tremendously evident in Heidegger’s philosophy and in mentalistic psychology from Freud to Chomsky.