Transcendental idealism, a key concept in Kant's philosophy, is debated among scholars. The challenge lies in reconciling Kant's belief that things we perceive are both the same and different from reality. The idea of formal idealism suggests that what we know is partly influenced by our minds. This leads to the conclusion that the question of whether things as they are and as we see them are the same should not be answered, but rather dismissed as irrelevant.