Phenomenon, noumenon, and mind in Kant

Abstract

The Cartesian substantial dualism and the mind-body problem provoked in the Modern Times a monist reaction that eliminated the ontological dualist interaction and conceived the problem as a conflict between explanatory discourses. Kant introduces the distinction between phenomenon and noumenon as one of perspective, with the intention of solving the conflict between materialist and mentalist explanations. However, he does not consistently place the mind in the noumenic perspective and thus blurs his perspectivist solution and ontological commitments to the idealist mentalism. The A. intends to show the plausibility of this hypothetical interpretation.