metonymy4u

The question still arises of whether Kant sought to replace the ontological noumenon with the epistemological. Certainly the hint of that, that he sought to establish a tribunal of reason in the language of the synthetic a priori, could have led to the resurgence of rationalism in 19th century German idealism. It comes down to this: how did Kant understand his own method? As a useful heuristic that improves the probability of practical outcomes or as a gateway to truth? I rather think that the latter would imply that Kant, not understanding his own innovation, was a damn fool. And as one of my teachers once commented: “no good philosopher is a damn fool, with the possible exception of John Locke!”