thing-in-itself
Beyond perception's reach
A philosophical term from Kant for reality as it exists independent of human perception.
Our minds impose categories like space, time, and causality on experience, so we can never know the thing-in-itself—only the thing as it appears to us.
We perceive the rose, but the thing-in-itself remains unknowable.
German: Ding an sich.
Cannot be reached
- hiddenKept out of sight
- veiledConcealed or obscured
- unobservableCannot be detected
- unknowableImpossible to understand
beyond experience · impenetrable · inscrutable · unfathomable · ungraspable · epistemic humility · mystery · indiscernible
Fundamental nature of something
- ultimate realityFundamental nature of existence
- substancePhysical material with mass
- existenceState of being real
- beingExisting as something
objective reality · unconditioned · absolute · ontology · quiddity · true nature
Observable facts or events
- epistemologyTheory of knowledge
- a prioriIndependent of experience
- synthetic a prioriNecessary truths that expand knowledge
- categoriesGroups of related things
Immanuel Kant · appearances · sensibility · understanding · transcendental · cognition · representation · intuition
inaccessible
Cannot be reached
- hiddenKept out of sight
- veiledConcealed or obscured
- unobservableCannot be detected
beyond experience · unknowable · impenetrable · inscrutable · unfathomable · ungraspable · epistemic humility · mystery · indiscernible · unreachable
essence
Fundamental nature of something
- ultimate realityFundamental nature of existence
- substancePhysical material with mass
- existenceState of being real
being · objective reality · unconditioned · absolute · ontology · quiddity · true nature
phenomena
Observable facts or events
- epistemologyTheory of knowledge
- a prioriIndependent of experience
- synthetic a prioriNecessary truths that expand knowledge
Immanuel Kant · categories · appearances · sensibility · understanding · transcendental · cognition · representation · intuition · manifold
- German PhilosophyKant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Heidegger
- German IdealismKant, Hegel, Fichte, absolute, dialectic
- KantKant, categorical imperative, a priori, noumena, phenomena
- Kantian PhilosophyKant, categorical imperative, a priori, a priori knowledge, noumena
- Schopenhauerwill to live, pessimism, voluntarism, suffering, representation
- ethicsmorality, deontology, dignity, sanctity of life, utilitarianism
thing-in-itselfphenomenon
Extraordinary observable occurrence
appearance · phenomena · experience · sense-data · representation
thing-in-itselfappearance
Outward visible form
representation · seeming · idea · image · semblance