Kant

English Literature

5d  ·

According to Kant, truth consists in the conformity of concepts with objects, in the correspondence of our representations with things that exist independent of them.

This conception of truth aids skepticism because it is impossible to get outside our representations to see if they conform to an object in itself.

Kant proposes that we should see truth as the conformity of objects with our concepts, the agreement of our perceptions will contain universal and necessary concepts that determine the form or structure of experience.

To him, if we adopt this conception of truth, it is no longer necessary to get outside our own representations to see if they conform to objects in themselves.

Rather, the standard of truth will be found within the realm of consciousness itself by seeing whether a representation conforms to the universal and necessary forms of consciousness itself.

Cambridge Companion to German idealism. Cambridge University Press 2000 UK. Pp 23/24

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