An Overview Of Immanuel Kant Essays - Kantianism, Free Essays

An Overview Of Immanuel Kant Essays - Kantianism, Free Essays An Overview Of Immanuel Kant An overview of Immanuel Kant By Scott Haywood Philosophy 101 Harold McSwain, Ph.D. The exploration into Immanuel Kants thought is one of, insight, perception, and open-mindedness. His work in the field of philosophy and intellectual development spanned over thirty-five years. He wrote on virtually all philosophical topics but his love was in the branch of metaphysics. His role in the evolvement of modern thought is vast and profound. Immanuel Kant was born, lived, and died in Konigsberg, East Prussia. Although he never left East Prussia, he is one of the most highly regarded philosophers of modern times. This paper will be an overview of his thoughts. We can divide Kants career into four phases. The First of which stems from 1746 to 1759, this is referred to as the period of infatuation. During this time, his main propose was to provide a foundation for metaphysics. Correspondingly, he developed a rationalist epistemology that could justify the possibility of the knowledge of God and what Kant refers to as, the first causes of nature.(1) The second phase from, 1760 to 1766, is called the, period of disillusionment. In this phase he broke from his earlier epistomolgy and was prone towards a more, Cartisain, skeptical, view point. Kant rejected the possibility of metaphysics transcending the limits of experience.(1) The third phase, 1760 to 1766, was called partial reconciliation, he returned to metaphysics in the belief that he could finally provide a solid foundation for it. He also sketched plans for his thoughts on ontology.(1) The fourth and final phase of Kants career, 1772 to 1780, is referred to as the, period of divorce. At this point in his career, he had realized that his renewed confidence in metaphysics could not solve one fundamental problem: How are synthetic a priori principles valid experiences if they are not derived from it?(1) Between 1771-1780, Kant published virtually nothing, he spent most of his time reflecting and studying. The end of this silent decade was closed by the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) in the 1780s he published five dissertations. He published many other essays and lectures until the late 1790s when he revised of some of his basic views on science and metaphysics, his work remains unfinished due to his death at eighty years of age in 1804. His final work, although not completed, was edited and published under the title, Opus Postumum.(3) The main idea of what most call, Kants greatest work, the Critique of Pure Reason, is with the possibility of metaphysics, understood as the philosophical knowledge that transcends the bounds of experience. For Kant, such knowledge claims to be both synthetic and a priori, which is knowledge attained only from operations of the mind, therefore he sirmises that God exists and that every event has a cause, much like St. Thomas Aquinas. Kant also belived that all mathematical propostions are of the same nature (synthetic a priori).(5) The second concern with Kants metaphysics in the Critique of Pure Reason is with the antinomies or pairs of contradictory propositions. Because of his reflections on the concept of a world, he became convinced that reason inevetably falls into contradiction with itself when it endeavors to think the whole. For example, does the universe have a beginning? Has the universe been around for an infinite amount of time? This would lead to hopeless skepticism, Ka nt came to see that the fate of metaphysics is crucially dependent on a successful resolution of the antinomies as well as an account of the possibility of synthetic a priori knowledge.(3) To solve this problem Kant came to a Copernican revolution in philosophy, since he compared his innovation to Copernicus first thoughts. The way his thoughts were conjectured was, to reverse the usual way we think of our knowledge conforming to the realm of objects, instead we should think of objects conforming to our ways of knowing. Therefore, he thought that human knowledge was limited to appearances or phenomena, whereas things-in-themselves are thinkable but not actually knowable. Kant termed this way of thought as transcendental idealism so both pairs of the contradiction could be proved true.(4) In the Metaphysics of Ethics (1797) Kant described his ethical system, which is based on a belief that

Klasies River Caves - Middle Paleolithic South Africa

Klasies River Caves - Middle Paleolithic South Africa Klasies River is the collective name of several caves eroded into the sandstone bluff located along a 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometers) stretch of the Tsitsikamma coast of South Africa facing the Indian Ocean. Between 125,000 and 55,000 years ago, a handful of our Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) (Homo sapiens) ancestors lived in these caves at the very southern tip of Africa. What they left behind provides evidence of the behavior of Homo sapiens at our very earliest moments of existence, and a slightly uncomfortable peek into our distant past. The Klasies River main site is one of the most intensively occupied sites within this area, associated with abundant cultural and subsistence remains of Middle Stone Age (MSA) hunter-gatherer-fishers. The site includes two caves and two smaller rock shelters, tied together by a 69-foot (21-meter) thick shell midden that spills out of all four. Archaeological investigations have been conducted at Klasies River since the late 1960s, primarily at the main site. The Klasies River caves were first excavated by J. Wymer in 1967–1968, and then by H. Deacon between 1984–1995, and most recently by Sarah Wurz beginning in 2013. Chronology Early modern Homo sapiens lived in the Klasies River caves during the Middle Stone Age, periods which are roughly equivalent to the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS 5). At Klasies, MSA I (MIS 5e/d), MSA I Lower (MIS 5c), and MSA I Upper (MIS 5b/a) were relatively intensive human occupations. The oldest the oldest AMH bone found in the cave dates to 115,000 (abbreviated 115 ka). The main layers of occupation and listed in the table below; the most substantial occupation debris is from the MSA II lower levels. MSA III MIS 3 (80–60 ka)Howiesons Poort (MIS 5/a to MIS 4)MSA II upper (85 ka, MIS 5b/a)MSA II lower (MB 101–90 ka, MIS 5c, 10 m thick)MSA I (KR technocomplex) 115–108 ka, MIS 5e/d Artifacts and Features Artifacts found at the sites include stone and bone tools, animal bones and mussel shell, and over 40 bones or bone fragments of the human occupants of the cave. Hearths and artifact clusters within the shell midden indicate that the residents systematically exploited both land-based and marine resources. Animal bones found within the caves include bovids, baboon, otter, and leopard. The earliest stone tool tradition found in the caves is MSA I Klasies River techno-complex. Others include convergent Levallois tool types in MSA I known as Mossel Bay technocomplex; and the Howiesons Poort/Still Bay complex. Nearly 40 human fossil bones and bone fragments are in the catalogs from the excavations. Some of the bones look identical to modern Homo sapien morphologies, others show more archaic traits than recent human populations. Living in Klasies River Caves The people who lived in these caves were modern humans who lived by recognizably human methods, hunting game and gathering plant foods. Evidence for our other hominid ancestors- Homo erectus and Homo ergaster, for example- suggests that they primarily scavenged other animals kills; the Homo sapiens of Klasies River caves knew how to hunt. The Klasies River people dined on shellfish, antelope, seals, penguins, and some unidentified plant foods, roasting them in hearths built for the purpose. The caves were not permanent residences for the humans who inhabited them, as best as we can tell; they only stayed for a few weeks, then moved along to the next hunting stand. Stone tools and flakes made from beach cobbles were recovered from the earliest levels of the site. Klasies River and Howiesons Poort Apart from the debris of living, researchers have also found fragmentary evidence in these earliest levels of the earliest of ritual behavior- cannibalism. Fossil human remains were found in several layers of the Klasies River occupations, fire-blackened fragments of skulls and other bones showing cut marks from deliberate butchery. While this alone would not convince researchers that cannibalism had taken place, the pieces were mixed with the rubble of kitchen debris- thrown out with the shells and bones of the remainder of the meal. These bones were unequivocally modern human; at a time when no other modern humans are known- only Neanderthals and early modern Homo existed outside of Africa. By 70,000 years ago, when the layers called by archaeologists Howiesons Poort were laid down, these same caves were used by people with a more sophisticated stone tool technology, backed tools from thin stone blades, and projectile points. The raw material from these tools came not from the beach, but from rough mines some 12 mi (20 km) away. The Middle Stone Age Howiesons Poort lithic technology is nearly unique for its time; similar tool types are not found anywhere else until the much later Late Stone Age assemblages. While archaeologists and paleontologists continue to debate whether modern humans are descended only from the Homo sapiens populations from Africa, or from a combination of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal, the Klasies River cave populations are still our ancestors and are still representatives of the earliest known modern humans on the planet. Sources Bartram, Laurence E.Jr., and Curtis W. Marean. Explaining the Klasies Pattern: Kua Ethnoarchaeology, the Die Kelders Middle Stone Age Archaeofauna, Long Bone Fragmentation and Carnivore Ravaging. Journal of Archaeological Science 26 (1999): 9–29. Print.Churchill, S. E., et al. Morphological Affinities of the Proximal Ulna from Klasies River Main Site: Archaic or Modern? Journal of Human Evolution 31 (1996): 213–37. Print.Deacon, H.J., and V. B. Geleisjsne. The Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Main Site Sequence, Klasies River, South Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 43 (1988): 5–14. Print.Grine, Frederick E., Sarah Wurz, and Curtis W. Marean. The Middle Stone Age Human Fossil Record from Klasies River Main Site. Journal of Human Evolution 103 (2017): 53–78. Print.Hall, S., and J. Binneman. Later Stone Age Burial Variability in the Cape: A Social Interpretation. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 42 (1987): 140–52. Print.N ami, Hugo G., et al. Palaeomagnetic Results and New Dates of Sedimentary Deposits from Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 112.11/12 (2016). Print. Nel, Turid Hillestad, Sarah Wurz, and Christopher Stuart Henshilwood. Small Mammals from Marine Isotope Stage 5 at Klasies River, South Africa–Reconstructing the Local Palaeoenvironment. Quaternary International 471 (2018): 6–20. Print.Voigt, Elizabeth. Stone Age Molluscan Utilization at Klasies River Mouth Caves. South African Journal of Science 69 (1973): 306–09. Print.Wurz, Sarah. Variability in the Middle Stone Age Lithic Sequence, 115,000–60,000 Years Ago at Klasies River, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 29 (2002): 1001–15. Print.Wurz, Sarah, et al. Connections, Culture and Environments around 100?000 Years Ago at Klasies River Main Site. Quaternary International (2018). Print. Klasies River Caves Fast Facts Name of Site: Klasies River or Klasies River MouthSpecies: Early Modern HumansStone Tool Traditions: Klasies River, Mossel Bay (convergent Levallois), Howiesons PoortPeriod: Middle Stone AgeDate of Occupation: 125,000–55,000 years agoConfiguration: Five caves and two rock sheltersMedium: Naturally eroded into the sandstone cliffLocation: 1.5 mi (2.5 km) stretch of the Tsitsikamma coast of South Africa facing the Indian OceanOffbeat Fact: Evidence that our ancient human ancestors were cannibals