FAQ About Immanuel Kant

Kant's philosophy challenged both the rationalist and empiricist traditions that preceded him. Against the rationalists, he argued that not all knowledge arises from pure reason; against the empiricists, he contended that our understanding of experience is mediated by innate mental structures. Kant introduced a new approach by asserting that the mind plays an active role in shaping experience, thereby changing the focus of epistemology from the external world to the internal structures and processes of cognition.