Kant’s revolution of philosophy begins with the question: “What can I know?” In everyday life, we seldom ask ourselves how we come by our knowledge.
In the Critique of Pure Reason Kant investigates the constitution and limits of our cognition. In doing so he reverses the customary perspective: it is not things that determine how we recognize them, but we ourselves who determine how they appear to us. Space and time, or concepts such as “cause and effect,” do not exist independently of us. In the center of the room, the “Architecture of Knowledge” invites visitors to trace Kant’s thoughts in three dimensions; on the wall behind, his theory is explained.
For Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant, knowledge was also meant to improve life. The invention of the lightning rod stands for practical utility. Encyclopedias and journals disseminated the ideas of the Enlightenment and promoted public exchange – an ideal that Kant formulated as the principle of a free and rational public sphere. And today? Are we guided by well-founded knowledge?