Kantian Journal

2011 Issue №2(36)

Kant versus Vladimir Solovyov: gnosiology with reflection and without it

Abstract

This article seeks to compare Immanuel Kant's and Vladimir Solovyov's gnosiologies. The comparison is based on the philosophers' attitude to reflection — a basic cognitive mechanism. If, according to Kant, the acquisition of true knowledge is impossible without reflection (including transcendental reflection), Solovyov builds his theory of knowledge on entirely different grounds, therefore, he has to rely on God and intellectual intuition in discovering the truth. Only having established the pros and cons of both gnoseologies, we can define whose theory — Kant’s or Solovyov’s — is more suitable to describe the process of cognition by a human being — a being in possession of rather modest cognitive tools.

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