Kant

How have we come to be such mindless disciples of empirics? Who decided that the only things that are real are those that we can explain and observe? Is natural science and mathematics to blame? Is the reality that surrounds us really 100% objective? I would argue that those who subscribe to this are shutting themselves off from a myriad of new realization, which is not something that Kant wanted to be found guilty of.
In reading the text before lecture, I came across Trigg’s explanation of Kant’s constructionism: “What we think the world is like (aka ‘reality’) depends as much on the nature of human understanding and the categories we bring to bear, as on reality itself.” I call it ‘subjective objectivity.’ This says that empiricism really isn’t as final and terminating as some natural scientists would like to assume. Constructionism says that we know things, facts, reality, or whatever, only in context of those things that we already know.
This may be why it is so hard for Latter-day Saints to think of the Nicene Creed in a positive light. Whenever it is mentioned in General Conference or even sacrament meeting, it is mentioned negatively. Is that just the preconceived notion that we have: a bunch of wicked men producing an apostate doctrine? According to Kant, we know that the Creed is negative because we think it is negative, and then we find negative parts about it. This isn’t completely irresponsible, but we don’t know the complete truth because of the theory we accept that surrounds it already. The Creed itself doesn’t contain any doctrine that Latter-day Saints do not already consider true. The negativity and falseness surrounding the Creed comes in its source, inasmuch as it was authored not through revelation, but through the logic of men. That’s where our argument against the work should rest, especially without actually reading it first.