what is a transcendental argument?

Question

what are some transcendental arguments against skepticism? thanks

Answer 1

Philosophically speaking, two of the main contenders over skepticism were Kant and Hume. Hume, after all, was a skeptic, believing that all that we know was primarily derived from our senses, while Kant when to lengths to dispel this idea, and Hume's specifically.

Kant's idea of transcendentalism suggests that our senses cannot wholly be the leader of our knowledge of the world, because there is some knowledge that tells us how our senses operate. This limited body of knowledge tells us how to use our senses on things, the limits of our senses, and possibly therefore much more.

Thus you can see why it's called 'transcendentalism'. If a skeptic says "we only know what our senses tell us, and beyond this border we can know nothing", the transcendentalist may easily respond, "if this is so, how can you know about your senses themselves?" Because we know the limits of what we can perceive, a transcendentalist would say that we can also know some things BEYOND what we can perceive.

Take, for example, an artist's palette. You see a blob of orange paint. But you have the transcendental knowledge that if red and yellow paint is mixed together, it LOOKS orange. Thus although see one thing, you may (perhaps) realize that it is something else.

Another good example is an illusionist's show. A good illusionist will show you all kinds of things: people flying, audience members sawed in half, things appearing and disappearing, and so on. Yet you know none of these things are real, even though your senses are telling you they are. And you are absolutely correct in this knowledge.

This we can see a couple ways the view of skepticism is weakened. Our knowledge can help us perceive and understand things, such that we can see more than we see in many occasions. Hope that helps!