Immanuel Kant's philosophical discussion on the role of authority in knowledge acquisition, highlighting the distinction between testimony and rational knowledge, and the importance of critical analysis in evaluating truth claims.
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[...] This distinction made by Kant leads to the following thesis: one must trust testimony, believe these testimonies in such a way that they are the "the foundation of our judgment ». In fact, if we decide not to believe what we cannot verify ourselves, then we cannot speak of what we have never experienced. Therefore, according to Kant, we must rely on certain authorities within the framework of knowledge that falls under testimony. However, Kant defends the thesis that it is possible, and even necessary, for each person to reconstruct the knowledge that falls under the use of reason. [...]
[...] Logic - Emmanuel Kant (1800) - The Authority of Others EXPLANATION OF TEXT GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS Phrase 1 Begin with a subordinating conjunction (When) When: subordinating conjunction « we build our knowledge on the authority of others, we thus become guilty of no prejudice (Kant) Is the main proposition of the sentence « When, in matters that are based on experience and testimony (Kant) It is a relative subordinate proposition « ; car, in this kind of thing, since we cannot experience everything ourselves nor understand it by our own intelligence, it must be that the authority of the person is the foundation of our judgments (Kant) It is a conjunctive subordinate proposition. Phrase 2 Begins with a coordinating conjunction (More) More coordinating conjunction So adverb. Here implies a causal relationship. It does not contain a subordinate clause. TRANSLATED_TEXT Begin with a coordinating conjunction (because) « For it is in an anonymous way that rational truths are worth. (Kant). And « It is not a matter of asking: who said this? [...]
[...] In fact, it may seem naive to always blindly trust the accounts of men about their experiences and testimonies, under the pretext that we cannot live what they have lived. On the contrary, it would be necessary to prefer a preliminary investigation of the subject, which, thanks to its reason, can determine whether or not to trust these accounts. It is not a matter of rejecting authority in this regard, but of passing these knowledge through the prism of a rational analysis in order to determine the elements that confirm or invalidate the validity of the testimonies. [...]
[...] From line 9 to line 12 Kant argues that men have a natural tendency to be deceived by arguments from authority and by a "desire to imitate (Kant) Question 2 The first quote means that man is unable to access the information he receives, therefore, it is not harmful to man to rely on the accounts of testimonies or experiences, and not to admit any knowledge of something he has not lived through. The second quote refers to rational knowledge. In this specific case, man is guilty of trusting arguments from authorities, because it is a knowledge that he can find himself through reason. Here, Kant challenges the arguments of authorities that concern knowledge that everyone can retrieve. That is why these rational knowledge cannot belong to a single man. [...]
