New Explorations into the Thing-in-Itself

Abstract

In response to the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, Immanuel Kant put forward a transcendental philosophy which distinguished between the appearance and the thing-in-itself (das Ding an sich), in the belief that people can only know appearances, but not thingsin- themselves. The fact that contemporary philosophy has gone far beyond transcendental philosophy can be seen clearly in the following respects: the response to the Scientific Revolution; the theory of primary and secondary qualities; the two concepts of the thing-in-itself; and how to know the thing-in-itself. In order to deepen the discussion of the thing-in-itself, it is necessary to introduce probing new questions and attempt to elucidate a switching theory of reality that distinguishes between the meaning-impoverished thing-in-itself and the meaning-rich thing-in-itself, and advocates placing the focus of philosophical thinking on the latter. Basing ourselves on the switching theory of reality and the concept of perspectival totality that it implies allows us to better understand man’s place in the universe and the mission of philosophy in the post-metaphysical era.