The Nature of Existence and the Existence of Nature

The Nature of Existence, and the Existence of Nature

The modern idea of reason helps man understand why and not just what? This concept stemmed mainly from philosophers during the Enlightenment. Learning something for the first time that is accepted to be true, for example mathematics and various proofs, usually ends with us adding that to our plethora of knowledge to ace the next test. However, before the Enlightenment many people believed that through learning, or experience, something comes to exist. Immanuel Kant ended up to be the most influential philosopher of the 17th and 18th centuries. He and Rousseau were the first to disagree with the commonplace ideas of skepticism and dogmatism. Alongside his analytical theories, Kant wrote of what is now labeled the Categorical Imperative. His writings in A Critique of Pure Reason carry principles found hidden in the subterfuge of today's society, making Kant one of the most advanced human beings during the Enlightenment. Europe's Enlightenment era happened to run its course at the same approximate time as the American Revolution, which largely explains why Kant and Rousseau's philosophies are so commonplace today, especially in our country. Immanuel Kant's philosophies rivaled that of the typical social structure of the world in the 17th and 18th centuries. His revolutionary ways of thinking are primarily seen in modern day American and European rights and codes, especially the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, of America.

Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1974 to a fundamentalist Pietist family, born fourth of nine children. Growing up in Konisburg, he spoke German and lived in a town known to be a commercial capital of its time, being near the southeastern shore of the Bal...

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...have stayed true unlike many other philosophers. “Once we learned the Earth is not flat, did it change? Or did it stay round?” (Kant) Knowledge and experience do not change the facts; they merely allow for us to understand further the truth and subsequently progress in our eternal quest for knowledge.

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