Genre
Philosophical book
Setting and Context
The book was written in the context of epistemology, metaphysics and ethics.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
Didactic, buoyant, informative, stimulating
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are rationalists, moralists and humans.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is the contradicting views between the rationalists and the empiricists, who have opposing opinions regarding the human mind. Consequently, the complexity of the human mind has not been solved through philosophy.
Climax
The climax comes when Kant deconstructs the assumptions of the rationalists and empiricists and concludes that they are both right and wrong. For instance, Kant agrees that the human mind has inbuilt perception, but a person gains knowledge through learning and observation.
Foreshadowing
The crawling of a baby foreshadows the willingness of the human mind to grow and perceive new knowledge and growth.
Understatement
The assumption that the human mind has completely inbuilt perception is understated and flawed. For instance, if the human mind was complete, there could be no need for learning new things.
Allusions
The story alludes to philosophical thought about knowledge, perception and the development of the human mind.
Imagery
The description of the world by Kant depicts sight imagery. For instance, Kant states that the world is made of physical matter that observes particular laws. Therefore, this imagery helps readers comprehend the hierarchy and metaphysical components that are part of the physical universe.
Paradox
The main irony is the philosophical mystery about the human mind. For instance, empiricists argue that a child is born with a black mind. How does the child know that he's supposed to cry and breastfeed if that is the case? Similarly, the rationalists argue that a baby is born with fully inbuilt abilities. The question is, why does one need to learn? Therefore, philosophy is a mystery about the human mind that is entirely satirical.
Parallelism
There is parallelism between the philosophical assumption about the human mind by the rationalists and the empiricists.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
