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Noumenal Vs Phenomenal Objects

From A Brief Note on How Phenomenal Objects Relate to Objects Themselves
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  • “…there is just one material cat out there in the world—the “noumenal” cat which exists whether the subject perceives it or not. When the subject or the external observer looks at the noumenal cat, it is a phenomenal cat that they see. So we have a cat itself (the noumenal cat) whose existence and nature is observer-independent, and a seen (phenomenal) cat that represents the noumenal cat, whose existence and nature is observer-dependent. In everyday life we usually think of the cat we see as a “physical cat” and, for the purposes of everyday life, we usually treat it as being the cat itself rather than a representation of the cat itself. But this does not double the number of actual cats, not does it ‘smear’ any additional phenomenal cats all over the noumenal cat. Rather, the one, noumenal cat has as many numerically distinct appearances as there are views of it by individual observers.” (Velmans, 2008, p41)

Description

The terms noumenal and phenomenal objects are rooted in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, specifically his work in "Critique of Pure Reason". These terms represent two different aspects of reality, distinguished by the limits of human perception and understanding.

1. Phenomenal Objects:

  • These are the objects that we experience and perceive in the world through our senses. In Kant's philosophy, the phenomenal realm refers to the world as we experience it, where objects are shaped by our sensory input and mental faculties.
  • The phenomenon is how things appear to us, not necessarily how they exist in themselves. According to Kant, human beings do not perceive the world directly; instead, we experience it through a "filter" of mental structures (space, time, causality) that allow us to make sense of sensory data.
  • Example: A tree as you see it (with color, shape, texture) is a phenomenal object, which exists in your perceptual world.

2. Noumenal Objects:

  • Noumenal objects exist in the noumenal realm, which is the world as it exists independently of human perception—the thing-in-itself (or Ding an sich in German). Noumena are objects that exist, but they are beyond our capacity to know directly because they do not appear to us through sensory experience.
  • Kant argues that we cannot have direct knowledge of noumenal objects because our faculties of perception and understanding (space, time, causality) are limited to the phenomenal world. The noumenal realm is what lies beyond our experience, a domain that we can speculate about but never truly access.
  • Example: The tree-in-itself—the ultimate reality of the tree that exists independently of how it appears to you—is a noumenal object.

Distinction:

  • Phenomenal objects are objects as we perceive them through sensory experience, influenced by human cognition and perception.
  • Noumenal objects are objects as they exist independently of our perception, in a realm beyond human understanding.

Kant's distinction is crucial to his theory of knowledge, as he believes that we can never have direct access to the noumenal world but are confined to knowledge about the phenomenal world—the world of appearances shaped by our perception. This distinction between the phenomenal and noumenal realms is central to his epistemology and metaphysics.

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