Kant’s Thought Formation and the Role of the Mind: A Groundwork for Development

PDF
Published: Jun 30, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.32404
Keywords:
Kant development civilization mind thought-formation a priori
Ikechukwu Onah
University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0456-8870
Anayochukwu Kingsley Ugwu
Madonna University, Nigeria
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0465-5277
Abstract

This paper argues that no form of meaningful development can be discussed without an incursion into the realm of consciousness, from which ideas emanate. This paper demonstrates that human civilization is driven by notions such as ideas, imaginations, concepts, plans, and projects which are germane to social development. An examination of Kant’s theory of concept formation reveals that though objects are given to us by means of sensibility, it is through the understanding that concepts arise. The mind therefore becomes the ‘breeding’ ground from which our ideas are generated and organized. In Kant’s analysis of the faculty of understanding, he noted that there are a priori pure intuitions and sets of categories such as Quality, Relation, Modality that organize particular sensations into unified objects of experience. This capacity of the mind enables it to produce or generate ideas within its own operations. Ideas generated are used to recreate our world. This paper provides a conceptual framework to explicate the foundation of development. Using the method of analysis, this essay concludes that the basis of development − social, economic, and cultural − is hinged on the nature and role of the mind.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biographies
Ikechukwu Onah, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria

Lecturer, Department of Philosophy.

Anayochukwu Kingsley Ugwu, Madonna University, Nigeria

Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy.

References
Bird, Graham. Kant’s Theory of Knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962.
Bochenski, I. M. Contemporary European Philosophy. Translated by Donald Nicholl and Karl Aschenbrenner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956.
Brook, Andrew, and Julian Wuerth. “Kant’s View of the Mind and Consciousness of Self.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/entries/kant-mind/.
Clifford, Juliet, and Garvin Osmond. World Development Handbook. London: Charles Knight and Co., 1971.
Cypher, James M., and James L. Dietz. The Process of Economic Development. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Dhareshwar, Ashok. “A Mixed Development Record.” In The Quality of Growth, edited by Bruce Ross-Larson, 1-25. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Dukor, Maduabuchi F. Theistic Humanism: Philosophy of Science Africanism. Lagos: Chimah & Sons Productions, 1994.
Edwards, Paul, ed. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Volumes 3 and 4. New York: Macmillan and the Free Press, 1967.
Ehusani, George. An Afro-Christian Vision. New York: University Press of America, 1991.
Encyclopedia Britannica. “Hylomorphism.” March 15, 2016. https://www.britannica.com/topic/hylomorphism.
Ewing, Alfred C. A Short Commentary on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. London: Methuen and Co., 1965.
Ewing, Alfred C. Idealism: A Critical Survey. London: Methuen and Co., 1974.
Ferguson, John. “Notes on the Early Greek Philosophers.” Second Order: An African Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (1974): 38-46.
Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy. Translated by Paulette Moller. New York: Berkley Books, 1996.
Gelven, Michael. A Commentary on Heidegger’s Being and Time: A Section-by-Section Interpretation. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
Grigoriou, Christos. “‘Enthusiasm’ in Burke’s and Kant’s Response to the French Revolution.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 7, no. 1 (2022): 61-77. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.25182.
Heidegger, Martin. An Introduction to Metaphysics. Translated by Ralph M. Manheim. London and New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959.
Iroegbu, Pantaleon. Enwisdomization and African Philosophy: Two Selected Essays. Owerri: International Universities Press, 1994.
Janiak, Andrew. “Kant’s Views on Space and Time.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2022 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/kant-spacetime/.
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman Kemp Smith. London: Macmillan and Co., 1953.
Miller, Fred. “Aristotle’s Political Theory.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2022 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/aristotle-politics/.
Needleman, Jacob. The Heart of Philosophy. London and Melbourne: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.
Ngwoke, Hilary Chimezie, and Anayochukwu Kingsley Ugwu. “Promoting Innovation for Development through a Participatory-Based Pedagogy: The Freirean Model Considered.” Nnadiebube Journal of Education in Africa 7, no. 1 (2022): 34-50.
Ninalowo, Adebayo. On the Crisis of Underdevelopment. Lagos: Prime Publications, 2007.
Oguah, B. E. “Transcendentalism, Kant’s First Analogy and Time.” An African Journal of Philosophy 6, no. 1 (1977): 3-20.
Olajide, Wala. “Man and Environment: An Existential Appraisal.” Essence: An International Journal of Philosophy 1, nos. 2 -3 (1997): 15-21.
Orono, Matias. “Kant and the Objective, Logical and Transcendental Meaning of the Categories.” Estudos Kantianos, Marilia 10, no. 1 (2022): 185-198. doi: https://doi.org/10.36311/2318-0501.2022.v10n1.p185.
Popkin, Richard H., and Arvum Stroll. Philosophy Made Simple. New York: W. H. Allen & Co., 1969.
Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1945.
Schönfeld, Martin, and Michael Thompson. “Kant’s Philosophical Development.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman. https://www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-development/.
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch. Elements of Philosophy: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch. Philosophy: History and Problems. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994
Thomas, Vinod. “Revisiting the Challenge of Development.” In Frontiers of Development Economics: The Future in Perspective, edited by Gerald M. Meier and Joseph E. Stiglitz, 149-182. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Ugwu, Anayochukwu Kingsley. “An Igbo Understanding of the Human Being: A Philosophical Approach.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 7, no. 1 (2022): 135-181. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.25223.
Unah, Jim I. “The Object of Philosophy is the Logical Clarification of Thoughts - Wittgenstein.” The Nigerian Journal of Philosophy 16, nos. 1-2 (1997): 20-34.
Unah, Jim I. Metaphysics. Akoka-Yaba: University of Lagos Press, 2010.
UNDP: Human Development Reports. “What is Human Development?” Accessed May 18, 2024. https://hdr.undp.org/about/human-development.
Vollet, Ribeiro Lucas. “An Interpretation of Kant’s Theory on the Representation of Possible Experiences: High Speculative Representation and Fine-Grained Knowledge.” GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis 5, no. 1 (2022): 62-76.
Walsh, William Henry. Kant’s Criticism of Metaphysics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1975.
Weldon, Thomas D. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.
Most read articles by the same author(s)