| Thing-in-itself is the core of the Kant’s philosophy,but what is Thing-in-itself?What is the relationship between Thing-in-itself and the phenomenon? Is the idea of Thing-in-itself obsolete? The academic circles have launched a heated debate on these questions.Therefore,the author chooses Research on Kant’s Doctrine of Thing-in-itself as the title,and studies the theory of Thing-in-itself,which is based on the relevant texts of Kant.This paper mainly discusses three issues: 1.The demarcation of Thing-in-itself;2.The relationship between phenomenon and Thing-in-itself;3.Setting the value of Thing-in-itself.For the first question,according to Kant’s division of cognitive ability,the author examines the role of Thing-in-itself in the perceptual,intellectual and rational stages,thus dividing Thing-in-itself into perceptual Thing-in-itself,intellectual Thing-in-itself and rational Thing-in-itself.In the perceptual stage,the perceptual Thing-in-itself serves as the source of stimulation,and the source of this stimulation is unknowable.Because of the unknowability of the perceptual Thing-in-itself,in the perceptual stage,the purpose of the perceptual Thing-in-itself is to delimit the phenomenon and Thing-in-itself.In the intellectual stage,intellectual Thing-in-itself serves as the boundary of cognition in order to limit knowledge within the scope of experience to ensure the rationality of knowledge.In the rational stage,the purpose of setting rational Thing-in-itself as the idea of rationality is to make the conditional find the unconditional,so as to obtain the greatest unity.For the second question,the author’s viewpoint is that the relationship between phenomenon and Thing-in-itself should be viewed from the perspective of cognition-ontology.The interpretation of cognition-ontology fuses epistemology and ontology: the existence of phenomenon depends on the form of the revealed subject.When we view an object in the form of cognitive subject,we recognize what is the object as a phenomenon;When we view an object according to the nature of Thing-in-itself,we can think the object of Thing-in-itself.From the perspective of cognition-ontology,the relationship between phenomenon and Thing-in-itself is not two perspectives or two aspects of the same object,but two objects or two beings.For the third question,the author selects three representative queries and responds based on Kant’s standpoint.Firstly,Fichte holds that Thing-in-itself is not in experience,but it serves as a basis of experience,thus the object acquired through Thing-in-itself is fictitious.The author demonstrates that Thing-in-itself is the object itself and is the source of things as they are.In this way,the author responds to the query of Fichte and defends Thing-in-itself.Secondly,Hegel’s questioning of Thing-in-itself is that Kant’s philosophy is subjective idealism,but Thing-in-itself is the product of abstract thinking.The author responds to Hegel’s questioning by demonstrating that category has objective reality and stating the mechanism of the occurrence of the object to defend Thing-in-itself.Thirdly,the theory of overdetermination in contemporary philosophy of mind makes Kant’s compatibilism untenable.The theory of overdetermination means that the same phenomenon is determined by two causes,and according to the closure principle in the physical field of philosophy of mind,namely,there is an actualizing,accompanying and foundational relationship between the physical and psychological causes of the event,so psychic causes are excluded.Kant arrived at compatibilism by dividing phenomena and Thing-in-itself.The theory of overdetermination poses a challenge to Kant’s compatibilism.The challenge is that the same event is determined by the both natural cause of the phenomenon and the freedom of Thing-in-itself.But according to the theory of overdetermination,Thing-in-itself which is a psychic cause is eliminated.Han Linhe holds that there is no overdetermination in Kant’s philosophy,because rational cause and natural cause are not two independent causes.There is a causal relationship between rational cause and natural cause.The author holds that Han Linhe’s interpretation is not conformity with Kant’s text.There is an overdetermination in Kant’s philosophy,but it is a permissible overdetermination.Because the empirical causality going backwards are natural cause and rational cause,which are going on at the same time,so it leads to overdetermination.But the rational reason is the ought,and the empirical reason is the actual,thus overdetermination does not pose a challenge to Kant’s compatibilism.Finally,this paper responds to the questioning of Kant’s posit of Thing-in-itself and demonstrates the value of Thing-in-itself in response to scientism.The value is that positing Thing-in-itself can set boundaries for science and avoid the unrestricted expansion of science. |
