A Study On Kant's Thought Of The Use Of Reason

Kant's influence upon the philosophical history has been extensive and everlasting,and lots of research fruits regarding his philosophy have been obtained.However,the research from the perspective of "use of reason" is small in number.Therefore,we study Kant's philosophical thoughts from the "use of reason" angle.The thought of rational use is of great importance in Kant's philosophical system,and it is of great theoretical significance to fully grasp Kant's ideological system,especially his critical philosophy system.It will benefit the comprehensive understanding of the inner relevance and the train of development of Kant's philosophical system,the better investigation into Kant's philosophy and even the whole classical German philosophy,and as well as providing good enlightening value to the ideological enlightenment and propelling the present moral construction.Fistly,the study of "use of reason" must start from defining "use"and "reason".In view of the frequent inter-translation of the German words "Gebrauch" and "Anwendung" in both Chinese and English versions,we firstly deal with it,holding that Kant deliberately distinguished "Gebrauch" and "Anwendung","use" includes"application" and "application" is a special case of "use",and it's a combination of empirical or apriority things such as congenital category,congenital sensory form,congenital imagination,and congenital appreciation,with experience conditions,which is concretized in experiential objects and they cannot be inter-translated.The meanings of "reason" varied in Kant's works of different periods,which it is interchangeably used with understanding,but "after all there should be an identical reason and it must only be distinguished in its use(Anwendung)".Therefore,the connotations of this identical reason should be carefully studied under different conditions.It is argued that the identical reason owned by human beings is precisely the high-level cognition capability,namely,the congenital legislation capability.Classified from the three using spheres,the concept of reason can primarily covers theoretical reason,practical reason and judgment.Theoretical reason can further be divided into understanding and speculative reason,and speculative reason is the theoretical reason during its transcendental use,the reason,pure reason,of which the theoretical reason exceeds understanding to reach the highest unity and attempts to seize the transcendental,absolute unconditional.we divide the use of reason into the theoretical use and practical use.Moreover,in accordance with what Kant had treated reason with,from the experiential and the pure views,its theoretical use consists of the theoretical use based on sensible intuition(experiential use)and that divorced from sensible intuition(pure use);and the practical use consists of the practical use based on sensible impulsion(experiential practical use)and that divorced from sensible impulsion(use of pure practical reason).In the end,the "use of reason" thoughts of Kant are investigated comprehensively.Sencondly,the use of understanding is based on its spatial-temporal objective and inevitable use.Due to the concreteness of time and space to each individual being,its application to sensible objects is characterized by its objective necessity,and thus it is an objective use.When cognizing the objects,the outside object will necessarily conform to our congenital sense condition,and the object can only be understood when it is functioned in time and space.Therefore,the time and space involves a necessary use during the cognition.The highest principle of the relationship between all the intuition possibility and sensibility is:all intuition belongs to the formal spatial-temporal condition.The word understanding is as multi-meaning as the word reason,and the use of understanding centers around the pure use and logic use.The pure use of understanding is its application,which expands through the use of categories.The categorical application to experiential objects is the experiential use of category,and categorical use and experiential use are identical.The highest principle of such identical relationship between all intuition possibility and understanding is:all the intuition belongs to the comprehensive and united conditions of appreciation origin.Categorical experiential use defines the category:the use of category is effective as to perceiving the understanding,and belongs to inner use.Once the relationship between perceiving the presentation and the thin-in-itself,considering that the category can be directly used to the thin-in-itself,it should be "the transcendental use or misuse of category.The use of category in ontology,from the angle of cognition,is a type of misuse.However,it is possible and even much nobler from the practical angle!".Thirdly,to the studies on the use which the reason is separated from the sensible intuition,i.e.pure use,the main conclusions are:(?)The relationship between the use of a variety of pure theoretical reason:1.Kant has founded the pure reason from the comparison between the logical use and pure use of reason,and then to seek the transcendental Ideas of pure reason.The logical use of reason is mechanism of deduce.The pure use is the mechanism of reason that implement to generate the concepts which provide principles to the understanding,;it also is called real use.The use of pure reason is in progress through the use of Ideas.The objective use of pure rational concepts is a kind of transcendent use.The rational concepts have not regulative use but constructive using.2.The transcendental use of reason is operating that the reason is only on basis of the transcendental Ideas,it is actually the speculative using of reason.The speculative use of reason just only emphasis that its object has not appeared in experience,but the transcendental use emphasis that and prior use of emphasis is up to an absolute unconditional Ideas starting from the experience.The two belong to the theoretical use of reason.3.The empirical use of reason refers to deduce by empirical materials,it is not away of intellectual use.The extensive use of reason is progressed from empirical to transcendental use.4.the prior use of reason is studied in the using form of ideas by reason,while dialectical use of pure reason is studied from the angle of the results of a priori using of the three concepts,one of which is investigated from the form of transcendental use,the other of which is studied from the method.This two compose the most important part of transcendental dialectic part of the critique of pure reason;5.The use that reason asided experience merely hold nature by transcendental Ideas which is called dogmatic use.This dogmatic use belongs to transcendental use.However,as far as the transcendental use that is not been criticized is concerned,its dogmatic use of the results is dogmatism.This is Kant's completely negative.The controversial use of pure reason is result which is not examined the transcendental use of reason,it will lead to skepticism.6.The twofold use of reason,i.e.the deductive use and intuitive use.The deductive use is that it deduces one by one objects according to the universal concepts,and the institutive use transcendentally display its corresponding intuition according to a rational concept.(II)Kant's investigating conclusion of the use of pure theoretical reason:the results of the investigation of the theoretical use shows that the pure use of reason is not to reveal the truth but to prevent from fallacy.The three Ideas of freedom,spirit and God which is produced by reason are to be used in practice.Forthly,the theoretical use and practical use of reason link the soul,God and other elements through freedom.(?)On relationships of the criterion,rule and hypothetical imperative,categorical imperative:on the face of it,it seems very difficult to relate the principle and imperative.However,due to the correlation between rules and imperatives,and the principles govern rules,so they can be connected.In addition,due to the correlation between imperative and action,and the latter must be in progress according to certain principle,all actions point to a target,it is also shows that the guidelines and rules,the hypothetical Imperatives and the categorical imperative,can be related by the principle or discipline of actions,criterion corresponding with hypothetical imperatives,the law corresponding with the categorical imperative.Based on it,it is found that there is a textual problem in the critique of pure reason:"so criterion is not an imperative but a principle",but it needs to add a word"categorical" before imperative.(?)The corresponding correlation between two kinds of empirical practical reason and two Hypothetical imperatives:Empirical use of practical reason also has two:use of technology,corresponding with hypothetical imperatives of technology;and practical use,corresponding with the hypothetical imperatives of utility.(?)The empirical use of practical reason only provides the practice principle of materials,which can be classified as happiiness principle or self love principle,it can only provide heteronomy and it has nothing to do with freedom.In the empirical use of practical reason,reason is used as a tool,and it is criticized in Kant.Fifthly,to the studies on the utilizing of pure reason:the relation of pure reason,freedom and moral law can totally be corresponded,even if can be proved each other.Kant's view on freedom has a big change.In his first critique,he treated impulsive freedom as free,but in his second critique it was been treated as negative free,not real free.The utilizing of pure reason establish practical principle which means directive law,namely,you should act following a rule that you willing it to be a universal law.This directive imperative has three different formulas:duty formula or natural law formula,human being formula,self-discipline formula or teleology formula.The moral law of pure practical reason imitates the pattern of natural law,which leads duty transform into motivation.In the utilizing of pure practical reason,freedom realized the united of immortal soul and the idea of God through Goodness.Sixthly,to the over view of Kant's "application of sensation":1.view from the general method,Kant separated the application of rationalism into theory application and practical application,and then analysis those two applications by divided both of them into empirical application and pure application;2.View from the inspection sequence,the inspection begins with the rules of the transition of sensation to understanding,and ends with the principles of the application of sense.However,in the inspection of sense's practical application,the inspection starts out with principles of practical sense then moves forward to sensation.Those two differ in order;3.view from the conclusions of inspections,in terms of inner situation of the theoretical application of sensation,this paper affirms the empirical application of theoretical sensation based on intuition,and rejected the pure application of theoretical sensation without basement on intuition.While in terms of the inner situation of the practical application of sensation,this paper rejected the empirical application based on sensuous instinct,and affirms the pure application without sensuous instinct.From that we know,Kant's altitude towards the theoretical and practical application of sensation is opposite.Those things theoretical application affirms are those rejected by practical application and what theoretical application rejects are those affirmed by practical applications.Therefore we are fully justified to view the purpose of human study as the inner goal of Kant's ideology of the application of sensation and thus we appraise the greatest thoughts of Kant-freedom and people oriented.Kant's thoughts are extensive and profound,but they,too,have their own flaws.This paper tries to analysis those thought in aspects of transcendental aesthetic and application of sensation,and believe that his thing-in-itself thoughts brought up by time space theory had negative effects on his epistemology.However,these thought have initiated new explorations by Hegel and Schopenhauer.They have also discussed these questions in terms of theoretical origins of moral law and relationships between moral law and freedom.Kant was a great man in philosophy history.It is no doubt a grand issue to discuss the enlightening value of Kant's thoughts,we merely try to discuss the enlightening value of Kant's thoughts from two aspects,thought enlightens and moral instructions.In the process of the pursuit of enlightenment,both the government and the masses should maintain not only their own freedom,but also others' freedom.Only by doing so can we fulfill the task of enlightenment.To promote the moral level of our whole society,we must vigorously promote the freedom of reason,to continue to complete the task of ideological enlightenment,to cultivate the ability of independent judgment;publicize the moral obligation,to cultivate people's pure and good moral motivation,and to set up distingue moral feeling;safeguard social fairness and justice,eliminate the unfair distribution and rich-poor divide of society.This is not only the need of moral construction,but also the important goal of socialist construction.