Noumen is a philosophical concept. Phenomenon and noumenon

A noumenon is a concept of philosophy, which denotes a certain essence of a phenomenon that is not obvious. It is comprehended (if at all possible) in the study and in-depth study. Usually in philosophy this concept is opposed to such a term as a phenomenon. This concept means something lying on the surface. When we look at some object or phenomenon, they affect us, our senses. Very often, this effect we take for the essence. Phenomenon and noumenon are terms that are often confused, but also take one after another. Let's try in this short essay to understand what a hidden entity is and whether it is available to us at all, in the opinion of philosophers.

Meaning

If we turn to the Greek original, we will see that the noumenon is a word that in translation means "mind." Ancient philosophers often denoted this term, not only a rational method of comprehending the truth, but also phenomena, actions and things independent of our feelings. But this concept has yet another connection with the mind. If a phenomenon is an object that we can perceive through sensations, then in the case of essence the matter is more complicated. After all, we are not confronted with an object in reality, which can be felt, seen or touched. He is given to us exclusively in the imagination, but only by reason.

History

For the first time this term we see in the "Dialogues" of Plato. For the great Greek philosopher, noumenon is an intelligible phenomenon. So he denoted his famous ideas. These are transcendental concepts, primarily such as truth, good, beauty. Moreover, for Plato this world of ideas is a real reality. And the world of phenomena, things that we perceive with feelings, is only an appearance.

Plato talks about this in the dialogue Parmenides, where he declares that it is the world of noumena that has a true existence, which is devoid of the objective universe. These entities or ideas, in addition, are examples of things, their "authenticity". He also calls them archetypes. And the phenomena are extremely distorted images of ideas. Plato uses an expression such as "shadows on the wall."

Middle Ages

The noumenon is a term that was widely used not only in ancient times. This tradition was preserved in the European Middle Ages. First of all, the perception of the totality of the noumenes as a different, intelligible world, which is accessible only to the mind, was extremely popular.

The Scholastics often operated on this term in order to describe what has to do with God. Not only Orthodox theology, but also religious dissidents used the term "noumenon". For example, the theologians of such a heretical medieval movement, which modern scholars call catharism, believed that our visible world does not have a true existence, because it was not created by God. Everything in it is subject to decay and death. But the world of noumena is a phenomenon, really created by God. They are incorruptible and unchanging and represent the true Universe.

Noumen in the philosophy of Kant

Unlike the medieval tradition, the famous German classical philosopher gave this term a completely different meaning. For him, the noumenon has no connection with reality. This is an exclusively intelligible object, existing only due to our logical conclusions. He even called it "thing-in-itself."

Kant explained his understanding of the noumena as follows. The things and objects that we contemplate and feel, of course, are outside of us. But their essence is unknown to us. All the forms and qualities that we see in them - or rather, they are attributed - such as length, heat or cold, place or color, are rather subjective properties of our way of thinking and the method of cognition. And how it all really looks, we do not know. Our experience tells us that something exists and what it is. But in what its essence, to understand to us it is not given. The distinction between phenomena and noumenes represents, in the philosopher's opinion, a kind of demarcation line that points to the shortcomings of our minds.

Noumen and a priori ideas

Is there anything that allows us to solve this riddle at least somehow? In Prolegomena, Kant writes that in addition to "things-in-themselves" there is another type of intelligible ideas. Such a noumenon in philosophy is that the existence of which can not be proved, it is unlikely to be known. From the point of view of Kant, a priori reason that does not rely on experience can help in this. It engenders ideas of the immortality of the soul, the integrity of the world, freedom and God. But they can not be the bases of science. Although they can be very fruitful to use.

For example, with their help we synthesize our knowledge and classify its diversity. However, in such a work as "Critique of Practical Reason," Kant argues that noumen can be attained not by knowledge, but by faith. Thus, he to some extent returns to their traditional interpretation, just on a different level. Thus the philosopher suggests that the noumenon have their own, hypothetical reality. This is the realm of freedom, which opposes nature, and history, and the moral argument for the existence of God.