Paradoxical Relationship between Concept and Experience: An Examination on the Possible Resemblance between Immanuel Kant’s Synthetic Cognition a Priori and New-born Neurodevelopmental Research

Authors: Vincent CO Chan

DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000224

Volume 5, Issue 1

Abstract

This article examines whether Immanuel Kant’s synthetic cognition a priori proposition is similar to the recent neuroscientific findings and contains empirical evidence from quantitative scientific research. It discusses the legitimacy and logical validity of Kant’s proposition. It also discusses whether such a proposition can answer which came first in the human cognitive system, concepts or experiences. This begins the natural process of acquiring new concepts and experiences daily. My research begins by extracting the meanings from the texts in §32 to §35 of Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics and interpreting what Kant sees as conditions for possible experiences. I shall then compare necessary conditions with scientific hypotheses and discoveries made by experts of infant neuroscience on initiating the human cognitive process. I shall comment on the strength of Kant’s proposition and conclude with relevant insights based to answer the above-mentioned question about concept or experience.

Keywords: Immanuel Kant; David Hume; An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding; Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysic; Synthetic Cognition a Priori; Concept and Experience; Infant Neuroscience; Philosophy and Science

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