Immanuel Kant’s Metaphysics
THEME
In regard to Metaphysics, Kant’s results were seemingly the opposite to what he strove to achieve, cf. the claim, in his Introduction, that “In this enquiry . . . I venture to assert that there is not a single metaphysical problem which has not been solved, or for the solution of which the key has not been supplied.” In the summing up of his Prolegomena, he records with evident pride in achievement: “Anyone who has read through and grasped the principles of the CPR . . . will look forward with delight to metaphysics, which is now indeed in his power.”
Yet the image of an “Alleszermalmer” persists, who dismantled the foundations of a philosophical edifice which had barely withstood the ravagement of Hume’s onslaught on its “occult fancies”! These discrepancies should make us wonder how one of the three greatest thinkers of all time could be so far deluded as to miss the outcome and import of his efforts! I propose to consider this problematic issue from a slightly different than ‘usual’ perspective.
I
To put the question of the suitability of metaphysics as a science is equivalent to asking, “what is metaphysical knowledge?”, hence “can metaphysical conclusions be verified?” In the CPR, this issue is encapsulated in the question, “How are synthetic a priori judgements possible?”
But before I address it, let me offer something as a curtain raiser:
The metaphysical possibility as well as the epistemology of newtonian absolute space remained a mystery until Kant solved it . . . [Guyer 10].
My intention here is to throw into focus the possibility of metaphysics having stood still in the interim; that no successor (as Kant indubitably expected) has taken up the cudgels and ...
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...g, but in my view a horizon beckoning for metaphysics by which to orient itself.
Bibliography
Kant, Immanuel: Kritik der reinen Vernunft & Prolegomena. Cited according to standard method.
Secondary texts
Adorno, Theodor W.: Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. Polity Press, Oxford 2001.
Ameriks, Karl: Kant and the Fate of Autonomy. Cambridge UP 2000.
Dryer, P. D.: Kant’s Solution for Verification in Metaphysics. Allen & Unwin, London 1966.
Gardner, Sebastian: Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. Routledge, London 1999.
Guyer, Paul (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge UP 1992.
Heidegger, Martin: Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt 1973.
Janaway, Christopher: Self and World in Schopenhauer’s Philosophy. Clarendon, Oxford 1989.
Pinkard, Terry: German Philosophy 1760-1860. Cambridge UP 2002.
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Throughout Kant’s, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, some questionable ideas are portrayed. These ideas conflict with the present views of most people living today.
The modern European critical tradition has its origin in the Enlightenment movement particularly in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who attempted at a critique of reason. Kant during his philosophical inquiry of the revision of the liberal humanist tradition replaced metaphysics with critique. As far as Kant was concerned, critique involved the tracing of the origin of experience back to the human faculties of the mind. If science meant a passive description of the world before Kant, science became an active domain where the human categories were imposed. For Kant and his followers, science no longer created knowledge from things in themselves but produced it from the phenomena of the world (Kant, Critique of Pure Reason)
Hume left a very controversial but necessary philosophy behind. His skeptical and empirical take on philosophy was something which was critically needed in a rationally dominated era of philosophy. His philosophy makes many excellent points while some are too radical. Kant, who was greatly influenced by Hume’s work is one of the most resourceful and innovative philosophers. He uses Hume’s work as a foundation to build a balanced philosophy taking the key components of both rational and Humean philosophies while tying in loose ends through his own theories such as a synthetic a priori. Kant’s philosophy clears up, for many, Hume’s loose ends as well as overcoming some of Hume’s more radical ideas. Hume’s influences on Kant allow Kant to create a modern viewpoint and definition on how metaphysics, a priori knowledge and human understanding is perceived.
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In the August 30, 1905 edition of Detroit’s Free Press, the sportswriters ran a small blurb announcing the arrival of a Detroit Tigers rookie, Ty Cobb. They stated, “Cobb left the South Atlantic League with a batting average of .328. He will not pile up anything like that in this league, and he doesn’t expect to” (Allen 177). Their prediction ironically rung true. Cobb hit better than their projected .328 batting average twenty times in his twenty four seasons (McCallum 217). Tyrus Raymond Cobb’s prolific career leads many fans and historians to believe that he deserves the title of greatest hitter of all time. However, some critics would argue that Ted Williams warrants this distinction. Unfortunately for Williams and his fans, the hitting prowess of Williams falls short of Cobb’s. While Williams arguably displayed a great hitting ability, Cobb remains the better batsman.
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In the Transcendental aesthetics, Kant defines the objective validity of Space and Time as concepts a priori with the help from of Geometry, showing that if we believe in the validity of Geometry, we have to believe that Space and Time are concepts a priori. In the Pure Concepts of Understanding, Kant claims that our intuitions are dependent on sensibility; everything we sense accumulates into our brain and our understanding of the information we sensed relies on organizing that data so that we can recognize the object. Thus, he asserts that understanding is not a faculty of intuition but sensibility. Furthermore, the act of organizing the data into one representation is defined as function and these functions serve as a bridge between the object and its concepts because concepts are not directly related to an object but just some representations of it. This, when function and concepts are put together, Kant concludes is defined as judgment, knowledge of the fact that there is ...
Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30(3), 257-261.
Immanuel Kant’s (1724-1804) Critique of Pure Reason is held universally as a watershed regarding epistemology and metaphysics. There have been anticipations regarding the notion of the analytic especially in Hume. The specific terms analytic and synthetic were first introduced by Kant at the beginning of his Critique of Pure Reason book. The mistake that metaphysicians made was viewing mathematical judgments as being “analytic”. Kant came up with a description for analytic judgments as one that is merely elucidatory, that is, what is implicit is transformed into explicit. Kant’s examples utilize the judgments of subjects or rather predicates, for instance the square has four sides. The predicates content is always already accounted for in
Kant directly deals with the problems presented in Hume's analysis of metaphysics. Where Hume stops his line of thinking and becomes skeptical as to the existence of metaphysics as a science, Kant picks up. He proceeds to analyze both the validity of metaphysics as a science and a force in our lives. Turning to the methods of other credible men in the scientific field- such as Copernicus- Kant develops a whole new approach to looking at the world. However, like Hume, Kant encounters an obstacle and does not find a solution for it.
Mill, J.S. (1852). A Peer Reviewed Academic Resource, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/milljs/ on February 15th, 2014.
...d around, and the empiricists and rationalists have managed to build and destroy certain views in ways that make my head spin, but Kant’s view will always fascinate me. Not only because he constructs a world that we are not the center of, and he boils reality down to mental conceptions. He makes one wonder about this world of impossibility. He realizes that as human beings we yearn to know and believe, and search for answers to an infinite amount of possibilities, and there is a lot of truth to this. We still search for and ask questions which cannot easily be answered because our reason propels to. As Kant once said “Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore,but which, as transcending all its powers also not able to answer.