Philosophy for Children Part Eight: Immanuel Kant and knowing

Kant said that we should, like detectives, examine and think about what we are told before we believe anything.

Today we are going to get to know the concept of knowledge from the point of view of the famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Imagine you have a friend who insists something is right because someone else told him so. He thinks what he knows is right. However, what is our role in this? Should we also believe his words?

Kant said: “When we receive news about something, we must use our brain to discover and understand it.” Kant’s point in simple language is that we should not believe everything just because people say so! Instead, we should try to really figure out what the issue is and be more hesitant about the truth.

According to Kant, the use of reason means the same thing, and you should really think about what you hear and not blindly accept what others say. Kant wanted us, like detectives, to investigate and think about what we are told before we believe anything.

Kant also said that when we think about something, we should examine it from different aspects, not just from our own point of view. This means that we must consider whether what we know means the same thing to everyone.

According to Kant, our “knowing” is not only obtained from our experiences, but also from the functioning of our mind. Kant emphasized that our mind plays an important role in determining what is true and what is not.

Think of this sentence: “I know I’m right.”

What makes us sure that we are right?

Let’s face this issue with one more example. When you hold a green tree leaf in your hand, you confidently tell everyone that its color is green or you say: 2+2=4

How do you know that what you say is true?

Well, it is clear! Because everyone sees the green color of the leaf and mathematics and calculations confirm the correctness of the result.

Thinking Station:

• What do you think knowing means?
• What does the way of thinking mean?

A Short story:

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a bird named Hudhood lived in a distant forest. Hood said to everyone: It is true that my wings are gray, but when I fly and open my wings completely. The feathers under the wings are blue. The little squirrel said: Is it possible? Blue wings?

One day Hodhed thought to himself, why not show everyone that his feathers are blue? He knew that forest animals are familiar with colors. So he started flying and flew in the beautiful sky. While flying, you hear all the animals say: Bah Bah! What beautiful wings! We have never seen such beautiful blue feathers.

In the meantime, the little squirrel excitedly said: Look at the beautiful blue feathers!

And everyone together enjoyed that sunny spring day very much.