KANT : DE LA CONNAISSANCE OBJECTIVE À LA CONNAISSANCE SYMBOLIQUE

Kant’s Copernican revolution, which emerged from a critical reflection on the possibilities of\r\nknowledge considering the progress of science, marks a fundamental turning point in modern\r\nphilosophy. Kantian criticism seeks a balance between empirical realism and transcenden-\r\ntal idealism, emphasizing the need to introduce universal laws to ensure the objectivity of\r\nknowledge, while also raising questions about the possibility of knowing what lies beyond\r\nsensible experience. Just as the unity of experience requires the synthetic function of the\r\nunderstanding, so the understanding regulates itself in pursuit of the unity of reason. This\r\nunity, although not directly concerned with its own object, nonetheless enables the extension\r\nof knowledge derived from experience. What is not objectively knowable, however, requires\r\na form of language that shifts focus from the object itself to a mode of expression adequate for\r\nsignifying entities that are only thinkable. In this way, Kant introduces symbolic knowledge\r\nas a means of establishing a connection between the human being and the world of ideas. The\r\nsymbol is a form of representation that, through the data of intuition, evokes an idea of rea-\r\nson, thereby deepening the reflection on the relationship between reason and reality beyond\r\nthe limits of sensible experience.