Three Categories of Philosophy

When talking about Immanuel Kant in class, we discussed his three main categories of philosophy. They were:

·       Logic

·       Physics

·       Ethics

As logic being one of the main categories of philosophy, he describes it as a formal area of investigation. To be more specific, it is characterized as laws of thinking. It is based on a priori, which means that it is independent of experience.  Rational thinking is often associated with this part of philosophy. It can also be described as non-empirical, or not based on experience.

The second category of philosophy is physics. Kant described this as a formal area of study, or to be more precise, laws of nature. Based on his beliefs, no one can be rationally immoral or irrationally moral. Those are both gross contradictions since you can’t be thinking logically (rational) when you commit an immoral action. This category of philosophy is empirical, meaning that experience is required to confirm the principles. Nowadays, physics is a study of the laws of matter and energy, which could only be proven through experiments and observations.

The third category of philosophy, as defined by Kant, is ethics. He describes it as a formal area of inquiry, and as the laws of morality. It is both empirical and a priori, which is actually possible despite many people’s beliefs. In order to formulate the principles of ethical philosophy, experience is not needed. Therefore, it is a priori in this aspect. On the other hand, in order to prove these principles, experience is required, making this aspect empirical. Any morally good action is done solely for the sake of duty (deontos; Greek). Kantean philosophy is known as deontology because of this. In order to determine the duty with which morally good actions should be done, one must go through a priori ethics.