Kant. Hegal.

As a rationalist, Kant (1724-1804) outlines, in one of his most infulentual texts,“'The Critique of Pure Reason' that the source of our knowledge is a priori; before experience and simply a matter of ideas. It therefore does not come from experience and is not A posteriori (after experience, and a matter of fact), but rather, is instilled within us at birth, and is innate.

According to him, immediate objects of perception are a result of external objects (which are called sensations) combined with our own perceptive apparatus, which he calls subjective apparatus.

Similarly, knowledge can be divided into two different categories, one that is phenomena- which is the creation of the knowledge in the mind, and the noumina which exists in reality. It is through the combination of these two types of knowledge that we percieve an object. We therefore can never have a clear idea of it.
This idea is interlinked to his religious beliefs.Kant relays that in order to be, one must exist in space and time, and since God is the only thing that could exist outside of space and time, his existence is therefore incomprehensible. This does not neccessarily make him an athiest, but rather an agnostic.

Analytic statements are true by definition, and therefore no further knowledge is required. An example of this is the statement, “All bachelors are unmarried men” the word “bachelor” alone means an unmarried man, so the rest of the statement is rendered pointless.

Synthetic propositions however tell us something about the world. For example, “the light is dim.”

Hegel  believed that nothing can be considered entirely real apart from “the absolute”. Large organisms were considered to be part of this category, and anything that is smaller, or considered a unit was privy to doubt. Similarly, he argued that “change is the only constant”, implying that everything changes and nothing remains the same. (A rather nifty little phrase, if you ask me)

Rivaling and “inspired” by Kant’s ideas, Hegel describes a thesis as an idea, and the antithesis as the opposing idea. Opposing ideas are necessary as nothing can exist without them. This notion can be highlighted by the example of pain and pleasure. One cannot know true pleasure until he has experienced pain to set a standard, and vice versa. 

  Finally, Hegal uses the term “Geist” (ghost), to describe the state as he feels that it is a free soul, that obeys the law. The state is also "organic", as it ought not to keep citizens from doing what they desire, but should still uphold laws of right to life and property.