Philosophg
Herbart was born, grew up, and educated in a time and place with a rieb pbilosopbical tradition. He drew inspiration directly from Germany's principal pbilosopbers, cbiefly Kant, Ficbte, and Hegel. Kant's epistemology bad stirred pbilosopbical debates tbrougbout Europe about tbe contributions tbe mind makes to tbe classification of pbenomena. Ficbte, bimself a Kantian, served as Herbart's principal professor at Jena. Tbougb be did not accept Ficbte's idealism, Herbart greatly admired bis teacber's intellect. Hegel was tbe tbird pbilosopber wbo stimulated Herbart's tbinking. His metapbysics provided tbe pbilosopbical basis for Herbart's idea of apperception. Immanuel Kant was one of tbe greatest pbuosopbers wbo ever lived. His first major work, Critique of Pure Reason, set out to prove tbat reason is the unifying center of experience. Unity is notborrowed from tbe external world; it is imposed on tbe world by buman reason. Ideas are representations, not copies, of a world external to bumans. Consciousness actively processes and makes logical sense out of experience. Reason fits perceived objects into tbeir respective categories. Tbese categories provide tbe foundation for knowledge.'* Does a real world exist independent of buman knowledge? Idealists generally answer tbis question witb a no; realists tend to answer it witb ayes. Wbat does tbis real world, if it exists, look like? Idealists are inclined to say tbere is no way of answering tbis question; realists assert tbat it is just wbat our senses tell us it is. Kant, tbougb an idealist, answered tbe problem of reality in an unusual way. He referred to tbe world external to buman experience as being made up of "tbings-in-tbemselves" tbat cannot be known by buman experience. All we can know about tbem are our perceptions. Humans are locked into viewing reality as "tbrougb a glass darkly.'"^