Immauel Kant by Eddie

Immanuel Kant


I am Eddie in Kant’s home now. He has a really beautiful house, and his servant Lampe has prepared two cup of tea for us. I know that he doesn’t like coffee, because he considers that it has too much oil.

Eddie: I am introduce you to my audiences, so I would like to ask these questions. Who are you?
Kant: I am Immanuel Kant.

Eddie: When were you born?
Kant: I was born on April 22nd, 1742.

Eddie: Oh! We are both born on the same day. And next question. What are you?
Kant: I am a philosopher, but I teach many kinds of subjects beside philosophy in the university. Like mathematics, physics, and mineralogy.

Eddie: Amazing! I thought that all you care about is philosophy before. I want to know being a philosopher, is there anything bothering you?
Kant: Yes, many things. I spend much time to think and to study. I need a quiet place to think. But there were a rooster crowing all day. I could not stand it, I moved to a place near a prison. Now I know that is a bad decision. Sometimes the prisoners sing the holy songs here. They open their windows, show their faces and sing loudly. In order to let people know that they are really regretful for what they have done. I hate this.

Eddie: I heard that you have a regular daily life, is it true?
Kant: Yes, I often go to my friend’s place and take a rest until others come. Then we will talk about many things. We always finish our talking at 7 o’clock, and I will go home on foot. Some people near there will say something like this “It has not been 7 o’clock yet, because Dr. Kant has not come to here yet.” I always go to bed at 22 o’clock, and wake up at 5 o’clock, day after day.

Eddie: Thank you! Next questions are about philosophy. There were rationalism and empiricism. Do you agree both of them?
Kant: In some sides of them I agree, I think this is a really big problem, and I try to solve them in my whole life. Especially David Hume, He is really an honest man. When I was studying Leibniz’s thought, I read one of his books. Then I knew that he insisted the principle of empiricism, he confessed that he is a skeptic. He waked me up from the nightmare of dogmatism.

Eddie: David Hume influences you so much, and I want to know what your thought about epistemology is?
Kant: I will try not to use professional terms to say to you. Human has three kinds of abilities, sense, understanding, and reason. Sense can make us to get sense datum by intuition. These data will be sent into the transcendental categories, and make judgments by understanding. When we make a judgment, it shows that we have knowledge. We can get knowledge if and only if our sense works with understanding. So all knowledge we can have if and only if the knowledge is from sensible things.

Eddie: Sensible things! I think Being can’t be sense by our sensations. How do you think about metaphysics? Can it still be possible?
Kant: I think that all traditional metaphysics are not real knowledge that we can get. Because the object that the traditional metaphysics talks about is the things that can’t be sense by sense. Like God, the world and the soul. These things can not be known by us. So we can not sure that what we talk about is real. Although we can not know, we can sure that they really exist by our will. All we have to do is to establish a moral metaphysics. These are the postulates of ethics.

Eddie: Can you say something about the postulates? What is your thought about ethics?
Kant: Man shall do the things that are good. Not because these will bring some good benefits. Only because these are good in itself. If my reason is the perfect reason, I call it is the Good Will. Good will orders people to do right things. There are three postulates of ethics, God exists, free will exists, and soul never been broken. God can make sure that he can know everything, he is the judge, and he is able to punish bad guys and bless good men. Man has free will prove that man has to response what he has done. We see many bad guys have a good life or an longer life then good men, so we sure that God will punish or bless after we are dead, our soul can take the punish or the bless.

Eddie: I think you are really care about human. What do you think the purposes of a human being?
Kant: I think a human being has to find the answers of these four questions. 1. Where was I come from? 2. What should I know? 3. What can I hope? 4. What should I do? If we could know these answers, we could know the meanings of a human being.