Kant’s Critique of Judgment: The Four Moments in Life
1. Introduction
Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Judgment” is a work that has intrigued philosophers for centuries. In it, Kant attempts to describe the nature of human cognition, and in doing so, he introduces the famous distinction between the phenomenal and noumenal worlds. This distinction has been interpreted in a variety of ways, but most generally, it is understood to mean that there are things that we can know through our senses (the phenomenal world), and there are things that we cannot know through our senses (the noumenal world).
One of the most interesting aspects of Kant’s Critique is his discussion of the four moments in life which, he claims, create a philosophical pattern for human life. These moments are: birth, enlightenment, death, and resurrection. According to Kant, these four moments show that some things exist beyond the reach of our imagination and understanding. In other words, they demonstrate that there are things in the noumenal world that we cannot comprehend with our finite minds.
2. Kant’s Critique of Judgment
In order to understand Kant’s claim about the four moments in life, it is necessary to first understand his distinction between the phenomenal and noumenal worlds. As mentioned above, the phenomenal world is the world of our experience, while the noumenal world is the world beyond our experience. Kant believes that human beings have access to both worlds, but we can only know the phenomenal world through our senses. The noumenal world is inaccessible to us because it transcends our cognitive abilities.
Kant argues that there are two types of judgment: determinate and reflective. Determinate judgments are those judgments which are based on experience (i.e., judgments about the phenomenal world). Reflective judgments are those judgments which are not based on experience (i.e., judgments about the noumenal world). For example, when I judge that a rose is beautiful, I am making a determinate judgment because I am basing my judgment on my sense-experience of the rose. When I judge that God exists, I am making a reflective judgment because I am not basing my judgment on any sense-experience.
Kant believes that human beings can only make determinate judgments about the phenomenal world; we cannot make determinate judgments about the noumenal world because it transcends our cognitive abilities. We can only make reflective judgments about the noumenal world. This means that when we try to make determinate judgments about things in the noumenal world (such as God), we will always fail because we do not have access to any sense-experience of these things. We can only make reflective judgments about such things; we cannot say anything definitive about them one way or another.
It is important to note that Kant does not believe that human beings are completely ignorant of the noumenal world; he believes that we have some knowledge of it through what he calls “intuition.” Intuition is a non-sensory form of cognition; it is a way of knowing something without having to rely on sense-experience. For example, when I intuit that God exists, I am not basing my judgment on any sense-experience; instead, I am relying on some internal sense or faculty that tells me that God exists.
Kant believes that human beings have two types of knowledge: empirical and rational. Empirical knowledge is knowledge based on sense-experience (i.e., knowledge of the phenomenal world). Rational knowledge is knowledge that is not based on sense-experience (i.e., knowledge of the noumenal world). Kant believes that human beings can only have empirical knowledge of the phenomenal world; we cannot have empirical knowledge of the noumenal world because it transcends our cognitive abilities. We can only have rational knowledge of the noumenal world; this means that our knowledge of the noumenal world is based on our intuition, not on sense-experience.
3. The Contradictions of a Human’s Life
Kant claims that there are four moments in life which create a philosophical pattern for human life. These moments are: birth, enlightenment, death, and resurrection. According to Kant, these four moments show that some things exist beyond the reach of our imagination and understanding. In other words, they demonstrate that there are things in the noumenal world that we cannot comprehend with our finite minds.
The first moment is birth. Kant claims that birth is the beginning of our access to the noumenal world; it is the moment at which we first have intuition of things in the noumenal world. This means that, at birth, we already have some knowledge of things that we cannot experience through our senses (such as God). However, this knowledge is very limited; it is just a glimpse of the noumenal world, and we cannot understand it fully because we do not yet have the cognitive ability to do so.
The second moment is enlightenment. Enlightenment is the moment at which we gain access to reason; it is the moment at which we first start to make reflective judgments about things in the noumenal world. This means that, at enlightenment, we gain a deeper understanding of things like God and immortality. We are still limited in our understanding, but we are no longer completely ignorant of these things; instead, we now have some rational knowledge of them.
The third moment is death. Death is the moment at which we lose access to the noumenal world; it is the moment at which we can no longer make reflective judgments about things like God and immortality. This means that, at death, our understanding of these things comes to an end; we can no longer know anything about them because we no longer have any access to them.
The fourth moment is resurrection. Resurrection is the moment at which we regain access to the noumenal world; it is the moment at which we once again have intuition of things like God and immortality. This means that, at resurrection, our understanding of these things is restored; we once again have some knowledge of them even though we cannot experience them through our senses.
According to Kant, these four moments show that there are things in the noumenal world which we cannot comprehend with our finite minds. We can only have a limited understanding of these things; they always remain beyond our full understanding because they transcends our cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, these four moments also show that human beings are not completely ignorant of the noumenal world; they show that we have some knowledge of it, even if this knowledge is limited.