What is a “thing in itself” (Ding an sich)? This term in philosophy denotes the existence of things in themselves, not concerning their knowledge, that is, regardless of how they are known. To understand what Kant was talking about, you need to take into account that the concept of “things in himself” has several meanings and includes two main meanings. First of all, it is understood that the objects of knowledge exist on their own, separate from the logical and sensory forms by which they are perceived by our consciousness.
In this sense, “a thing in itself” according to Kant means that any expansion and deepening of knowledge is knowledge only of phenomena, and not of things themselves. This is due to the fact that it occurs in subjective forms of reason and sensuality. For this reason, Kant believes that even mathematics, which is an exact science, does not reflect objective reality, therefore it is reliable only for us, because it is perceived with the inherent a priori forms of reason and sensuality.
Kant's Cognition
What is the “thing in itself” for Kant? It is time and space that underlie the accuracy of mathematics, arithmetic, and geometry. These are not forms of the existence of things directly, but forms of our sensuality that do not require proof. At the same time, causality, substance and interaction are not objects of things, they are only a priori forms of our reason. The concept of science, in principle, does not copy the properties of objects, it belongs to the category of things imposed by the mind on “material”. Kant believes that the properties discovered by science do not depend on the randomness of each specific subject, but it cannot be argued that the laws recognized by science are independent of consciousness.
Kant's limited and unlimited knowledge
The ability to know can be both limited and unlimited. Kant says that empirical science has no limits for its further deepening and expansion. By observing and analyzing phenomena, we penetrate into the depths of nature, and it is not known how far one can advance with time.
And yet, science, according to Kant, may be limited. In this case, it is understood that with any deepening and expansion, scientific knowledge cannot go beyond the limits of logical forms by which objective knowledge of reality takes place. That is, even if we manage to fully study natural phenomena, we will never be able to answer questions that are beyond nature.
Unrecognizability of “things in oneself”
“A thing in itself” is essentially the same agnosticism. Kant suggested that in his teaching of a priori forms of reason and sensuality, he managed to overcome the skepticism of Hume and ancient skeptics, but in reality his concept of objectivity is ambiguous and ambiguous. That which, according to Kant, is “objectivity”, is actually completely reduced to universality and necessity, which he understands as a priori definitions of sensuality and reason. As a result, the ultimate source of “objectivity” is the same subject, and not the external world itself, which is reflected in the abstractions of mental cognition.
“Thing in itself” in philosophy
The meaning of the concept of “things in itself” explained above is applied by Kant only when trying to explain the possibility of exact mathematical and natural knowledge. But when substantiating the idea of its philosophy and ethics, it takes on a slightly different meaning. So what is the “thing in itself” in Kant's philosophy? In this case, we mean the special objects of the intelligible world - the freedom to define human actions, immortality and God as a supernatural cause and truth of the world. The principles of Kant's ethics also boiled down precisely to such an understanding of "things in oneself."
The philosopher acknowledged that man is inherent to the ineradicability of evil and the contradictions of social life due to him. And at the same time, he was convinced that in the soul a man longs for a harmonious state between moral mentality and behavior. And, according to Kant, this harmony can be achieved not in the empirical, but in a comprehensible world. In order to ensure a moral world order, Kant also seeks to figure out what a "thing in itself" is. To the world of "appearances" he attributes nature and its manifestations as an object of scientific knowledge, and to the world of "things in himself" - immortality, freedom, and God.
Principle Unrecognizability
As already noted, the “thing in itself” Kant proclaims unknowable, and her unknowability is no longer temporary and relative, but fundamental, irresistible by any philosophical knowledge and progress. God is such an unknowable "thing in itself." Its existence can neither be confirmed nor disproved. The existence of God is a postulate of reason. Man recognizes that God is, based not on logical evidence, but on the categorical command of moral consciousness. It turns out that in this case, Kant criticizes the mind in order to establish and strengthen the faith. The limitations that he applies to theoretical reason are those restrictions that should stop not only science, but also the practice of faith. Faith must be beyond these boundaries and become invulnerable.
Kant's form of idealism
In order to transfer the resolution of conflicts and contradictions - socio-historical and ethical - into a comprehensible world, it was necessary to apply an idealistic interpretation of the most important concepts of theoretical philosophy. Kant was an idealist in philosophy and ethics, but not because his theory of knowledge was idealistic. But rather, on the contrary, the theory was idealistic, because the philosophy of history and ethics were idealistic. The German reality of the times of Kant completely denied the possibility of solving real contradictions in the life of society in practice and the likelihood of their adequate reflection in theoretical thought.
For this reason, Kant's philosophical worldview has developed in the traditional channel of idealism under the influence, on the one hand, of Hume, and on the other, of Leibniz, Wolf. The contradiction of these traditions and an attempt to analyze their interaction is reflected in Kant's doctrine of the boundaries and forms of reliable knowledge.