Critical philosophy (German: kritische Philosophie) is a movement inaugurated by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). It is dedicated to the self-examination of reason with the aim of exposing its inherent limitations, that is, to defining the possibilities of knowledge as a prerequisite to advancing to knowledge itself. According to Kant, only after such self-criticism does it become possible to develop metaphysics in a non-dogmatic way.[1]
Contemporaries of Kant such as Johann Georg Hamann and Johann Gottfried Herder rejected the notion of "pure" reason upon which this project depends. They claim that reason depends upon language, which always introduces historical contingencies.[2]
