Understanding Science and the Mind
A Look at Martyr Dr. Ali Larijani's Book on Kant's Philosophy
Introduction: The Author and His Legacy
Given the tragic news of his recent martyrdom, it is a fitting time to look back and reflect on Dr. Ali Larijani’s deep academic legacy. While many people knew him for his major role in Iranian politics, he was fundamentally a highly dedicated philosophy scholar. He held a Ph.D. in Western Philosophy and spent years studying the famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
One of his most important academic works is Metaphysics and Exact Sciences in Kant’s Philosophy. Instead of just summarising Kant, Dr. Larijani’s book presents his own academic thesis: he argues that we have been looking at Kant’s greatest ideas the wrong way by ignoring his early years as a science enthusiast.
Here is a breakdown of Dr. Larijani’s main arguments and how he explains Kant’s connection to science.
1. Dr. Larijani’s Main Argument: The “Pre-Critical” Secret
Most universities focus entirely on Kant’s famous, later books (known as his “critical” period). Dr. Larijani argues that this is a mistake.
Larijani’s Point: Larijani’s core thesis is that you cannot truly understand Kant’s later, revolutionary ideas about the human mind if you ignore what Kant was doing in his 30s and 40s.
The “Jealousy” of Philosophy: Larijani points out that early in his life, Kant noticed scientists like Isaac Newton making incredible progress using math and physics, while philosophers were stuck endlessly arguing about the soul and reality.
The Takeaway: Larijani argues that Kant’s entire theory of the mind was not born out of thin air. Instead, it was a direct attempt to make philosophy as reliable as Newton’s physics. By studying Kant’s early “pre-critical” writings, Larijani proves that Kant’s mature philosophy was simply an attempt to reverse-engineer the success of the exact sciences.
2. Knowing Things for Sure: “Synthetic A Priori” Explained
Philosophy can be complicated, but Dr. Larijani helps clarify Kant’s most terrifying academic phrase: Synthetic A Priori. Larijani focuses heavily on this concept because he sees it as the ultimate bridge between human thought and the physical universe.
Kant divided knowledge into different types:
Analytic Knowledge (True, but boring): If someone says, “All bachelors are unmarried men,” it is 100% true. But you didn’t learn anything new. The definition of a bachelor is an unmarried man.
Empirical Knowledge (New, but not guaranteed): If someone says, “The cat is on the mat,” you learn new information. However, you have to actually look at the mat to know if it’s true, and it might not be true tomorrow.
Kant’s Discovery: “Synthetic A Priori” (New AND Guaranteed): Dr. Larijani emphasizes that mathematics is a third, special kind of knowledge. Think of the statement: A straight line is the shortest distance between two points. It gives you new information, yet it is guaranteed to be true everywhere in the universe. You don’t need to get a ruler and measure every line in the galaxy to prove it. You just know it in your mind.
Larijani highlights this to show that human beings are capable of generating universal, scientific truths purely from within, without needing to blindly observe the outside world.
3. Space and Time: The Built-In “VR Headset”
If we can invent math in our heads, why does it magically apply to the real physical world outside of us? Dr. Larijani explores Kant’s mind-bending solution to this problem.
The “VR Headset” Analogy: Kant said that space and time are not actual “things” out in the physical universe. Instead, Space and Time are like a Virtual Reality headset that every human being is permanently wearing.
Larijani’s Interpretation: Larijani explains that, according to Kant, Geometry is just the study of our mental “Space,” and Arithmetic (counting) is just how our brain processes “Time.”
The Result: Because Space and Time are the software running inside our own brains, the math we invent will naturally match up perfectly with everything we see. We never see the universe “as it actually is.” We only see the universe after our brain has filtered it.
Larijani’s book stresses that Kant didn’t invent this “headset” theory just to be strange. He reasoned backward: he knew that math and physics worked perfectly, so he figured out exactly how the human mind must be built to allow those sciences to work.
Conclusion: Why This Book Matters
In the Persian-speaking world, a lot of books about Western philosophy are simply translated from English or German. Dr. Larijani’s book is special because it is an original, deeply researched guide written by an Iranian thinker. Larijani’s unique argument—that we must look at Kant as a scientist first to understand him as a philosopher—helps students realise that Kant’s groundbreaking ideas were a direct response to the major scientific discoveries of his era.