Kant says you can't...

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n the philosophy (philosophy: The rational investigation of questions

about existence and knowledge and ethics) of Immanuel Kant , a

noumenon or thing in itself (German Ding an sich) is an unknowable,

indescribable reality (reality: The state of being actual or real)

that, in some way, lies " behind " observed phenomena (phenomena: a

phenomenon (plural: phenomena) is an observable event, especially

something special...

[follow hyperlink for more...]) . The etymology of the word

ultimately reflects the Greek nous (mind).

Some writers also refer to noumena (the plural form), though the very

notion of individuating items in " the noumenal world " seems

problematic, since the very notions of number (number: A concept of

quantity derived from zero and units) and individuality appear among

the categories of understanding -- so that individuality itself is a

noumenon. " Phenomenon (Phenomenon: Any state or process known through

the senses rather than by intuition or reasoning) " serves as a

(contrasting) technical term in Kant's philosophy, meaning the world

as experienced. Kant wondered if practical reason could enter

immediate contact with the " noumenal real " ? Then metaphysics would be

capable of establishing its validity, just as the impact of

experience grounds the objective validity of the sciences.

 

Explaining the relationship between the noumenal and phenomenal

worlds forms one of the most difficult problems for Kant's

philosophy. On Kant's view as expressed in his Critique of Pure

Reason (Critique of Pure Reason: the critique of pure reason is

widely regarded as the philosopher immanuel kants...

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called " concepts of the understanding " , or innate categories that the

mind brings to make sense of raw unstructured experience. Since these

categories include causality (causality: The relation between causes

and effects) and number, it becomes problematic to say that " many "

noumena exist that individually " cause " us to have perceptions of

phenomena. But if the noumenal does not cause the phenomenal, then

what is the relationship? The answer is that the noumenal and

phenomenal coexist simultaneously; we cannot say that either causes

the other.

 

It can be said that on Kant's view the noumenal is radically

unknowable. Whatever concept we might want to use to categorize some

noumenon or noumena, that is only a way of categorizing phenomena, so

that the act of knowing a noumenon must itself be defined by a

noumenon, a situation that is unresolvable.

....bob..>>>>