noumenon

Noun

noumenon (plural noumena)

1. A thing as it is independent of any conceptualization or perception by the human mind, postulated by practical reason but existing in a condition which is in principle unknowable and unexperienceable.
   • The final result of Kant's philosophy, expressed in the concisest terms, was the proposition, so humiliating to human cognition, but, at the same time, so fertile in consequences, that we can know only phenomena, or the outward appearances of things, but not the noumenon, or the thing in itself.1871 January, David Asher, “Schopenhauer and Darwinism”, in Journal of Anthropology, volume 1, number 3, page 317
   • We have no specific concept of the noumenon, but think of it merely as whatever the object may be apart from the manner in which our knowledge exhibits it.1954 July, Bella K. Milmed, “Theories of Religious Knowledge from Kant to Jaspers”, in Philosophy, volume 29, pages 197–198

   Synonyms:

   thing-in-itself

   Antonyms:

   phenomenon