Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

But it is important to note that Kant had a solid grounding in the philosophic tradition of the past. He was familiar both with the rationalism of Descartes and Spinoza and the empiricism of Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.’ ‘I asked you not to mention Berkeley again.’ ‘Remember that the rationalists believed that the basis for all human knowledge lay in the mind. And that the empiricists believed all knowledge of the world proceeded from the senses. Moreover, Hume had pointed out that there are clear limits regarding which conclusions we could reach through our sense perceptions.’ ‘And who did Kant agree with?’ ‘He thought both views were partly right, but he thought both were partly wrong, too. The question everybody was concerned with was what we can know about the world. This philosophical project had been preoccupying all philosophers since Descartes. ‘Two main possibilities were drawn up: either the world is exactly as we perceive it, or it is the way it appears to our reason.’ ‘And what did Kant think?’ ‘Kant thought that both “sensing” and “reason” come into play in our conception of the world. But he thought the rationalists went too far in their claims as to how much reason can contribute, and he also thought the empiricists placed too much emphasis on sensory experience.’ ‘If you don’t give me an example soon, it will all be just a bunch of words.’ ‘In his point of departure Kant agrees with Hume and the empiricists that all our knowledge of the world comes from our s...