Kant’s Theory of Experience

Hermann Cohen, a founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantian philosophy, emphasized pure thought and ethics over metaphysics. His work, Kant's Theory of Experience (1871), argued that the transcendental subject is a logical function of thought that constructs knowledge. Cohen believed that experience is a construction of humankind's logical spirit, where nothing is simply "given" but rather "propounded" to thought. This perspective contrasts with traditional empiricism, which views experience as primarily sensory input. Cohen's philosophy later shifted to emphasize religious and Judaic elements, though scholars debate whether this was a departure or a culmination of his system.1234