Kant I
Charles Manekin
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Modern Philosophy PHIL320
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Topics of Discussion
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Life and Works
Perceptions, Impressions and Ideas
Empiricist Theory of Meaning
Association of Ideas
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Life and Works
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Born (April 22, 1724) grew up, and died in
East Prussia.
No life of diplomacy, tutoring, no
excommunication. Pretty quiet.
Born into family of pietists in Koenigsberg,
stress simple piety and good works over
ceremonies of organized religion.
1740 – Attended college, studied logic and
philosophy with disciple of Wolff.
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Life and Works
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1755 obtained “doctorate” and license to teach
1770 appointed professor of logic and metaphysics.
1755-1770: pre-”critical” years.
1770-1781: teaching Wolff, thinking Kant
Critique of Pure Reason – First Edition published in 1781 –
barely noticed.
Then, in rapid succession, Prolegomena, Groundworks of
the Metaphysics of Morals, Metaphysical First Principles of
Natural Science, Second Edition of First Critique (1787), the
Critique of Practical Reason (1790), Critique of Judgment
(1793)
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Introduction to Prolegomena
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We must first ask the question,
“Whether Metaphysics is possible at
all?”
• Certainly it is possible in a trivial sense;
one can talk and write about it.
• But is it capable of extending our
knowledge about reality?
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What Does Kant Mean by
Metaphysics?
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Chief questions of metaphysics:
existence of God, human freedom,
the immortality of the soul.
Can we obtain knowledge about
these?
Well, why not?
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Reasons to believe there is no
science called “metaphysics”
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Doesn’t seem to have advanced much.
Philosophers have come to no
agreement.
It is necessary to first be convinced that
metaphysics is possible, before one
actually does metaphysics.
Goal of the Prolegomena – to convince
the reader that metaphysics is possible.
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The Criticism of Dogmatic
Metaphysics
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What is “Dogmatic Metaphysics”?
• “Dogmatic” does not mean “clinging to
irrational beliefs” or “accepted without
argument.”
• Rather, it is the rationalistic philosophy
associated with Descartes, Spinoza, and
Leibniz – and most important of all, Wolff.”
• All knowledge is or can become scientific…all
things in the world are rationally
comprehensible.”
• The truths of philosophy can be deduced independent of
all experience.
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Hume Awakens Kant from his
Dogmatic Slumbers
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According to Kant, Hume destroyed
it.
“Every effect has a cause”. This
cannot be deduced in a priori
fashion, but only from experience,
and only as a subjective necessity.
Hume misunderstood by his critics.
They appealed to common sense.
Kant’s answer to Hume….
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The Copernican Revolution
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Hitherto it has been assumed that all our knowledge
must conform to objects. But all attempts to extend
our knowledge of objects by establishing something in
regard to them a priori, by means of concepts, have,
on this assumption, ended in failure. We must
therefore make trial whether we may not have more
success in the tasks of metaphysics, if we suppose
that objects must conform to our knowledge. This
would agree better with what is desired, namely, that
it should be possible to have knowledge of objects a
priori, determining something in regard to them prior
to their being given.
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The Copernican Revolution
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We should then be proceeding precisely on the lines
of Copernicus' primary hypothesis. Failing of
satisfactory progress in explaining the movements of
the heavenly bodies on the supposition that they all
revolved round the spectator, he tried whether he
might not have better success if he made the
spectator to revolve and the stars to remain at rest. A
similar experiment can be tried in metaphysics, as
regards the intuition of objects. If intuition must
conform to the constitution of the objects, I do not
see how we could know anything of the latter a priori;
but if the object (as object of the senses) must
conform to the constitution of our faculty of intuition.
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The Analytic Method in the
Prologomena
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Assume the necessary and universal
truth of the propositions of
mathematics, geometry, etc. The
question is then. What must be the
conditions that allow for this to be
the case?
Transcendental
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Topics of Discussion
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Metaphysics as an a priori science
The analytic/synthetic distinction
Synthetic a priori judgments
How is pure mathematics possible?
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On the Sources of Metaphysics
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The importance of the “sources” question.
• For Kant, metaphysics cannot be an empirical science.
• Its concepts (e.g., cause, substance, etc.) and its
maxims (e.g., ‘Effect effect has a cause”) must be a
priori, i.e., not derived from experience.
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“Pure” means, for Kant, pure of any empirical
content.
Metaphysics is like mathematics (which is also
pure and a priori), but differs in the objects and
the maxims; it is philosophical, whereas
mathematics is not.
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Analytic and synthetic judgments
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“Analytic” or “explicative” judgments.
• The predicate is implicitly thought in the
subject; the predicate-concept is contained
within the subject-concept.
• This is not a subjective criterion; some
judgments are not analytics for some people,
not analytics for others.
• Example: “All bodies are extended” . No
amplification of the subject, just analysis.
• Even judgments with empirical concepts can
be analytic. “Gold is a yellow metal.”
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Analytic and synthetic judgments
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“Synthetic” or “expansive” judgments.
• The predicate is not even implicitly thought in
the subject; the predicate-concept is not
contained within the subject-concept; it adds
to it.
• Example: “All bodies have weight”. “Weight”
amplifies my knowledge of body.
• When I make such a judgment, I put/think
together the predicate and the subject
concepts; hence the judgments are synthetic.
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All Analytics Judgments are known
a priori
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All Analytic judgments are based on the
Law of Contradiction.
• Since the predicate is already contained within
the subject, the predicate cannot be denied
without denying the subject, i.e., without
contradiction
• In effect, they reduce to identity statements.
• All bachelors are unmarried males.
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Bachelors=df unmarried males
All unmarried males are unmarried males
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Are all synthetic propositions a
posteriori?
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Well, empirical judgments, i.e., judgments of
experience, are.
But – and here is the shock – there are some
synthetic propositions that are a priori
How are mathematical judgments synthetic?
“7+5=12”. The subject concept involves a
combination of two numbers in a single number.
But in order to have the concept of sum, i.e., of
adding of some units to another, we need some
features of experience.
Mathematical judgments proceed by way of the
construction of concepts.
Hume’s Fork Needs be a Trident
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Metaphysical judgments are
synthetic
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Here, too, one can distinguish between
judgments pertaining to metaphysics
(“Substance underlies properties”) and
metaphysical judgments (“Substance is
permanent.”)
• The first is analytics, the second is not.
• “The generation of a priori knowledge by
intuition (experience) and well as by concepts,
in fine, of synthetical propositions a priori,
especially in philosophical knowledge,
constitutes the essential subject of
metaphysics.”
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Is Metaphysics Possible?
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Well, the important judgments of
metaphysics are synthetic and a priori.
So, are synthetic a priori judgments
possible?
Well, mathematical judgments are
synthetic a priori. And nobody disputes
the mathematics.
So how are the synthetic a priori
judgments of mathematics possible?
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Transcendental Questions
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How is pure mathematics possible?
How is pure natural science
possible?
How is metaphysics in general
possible?
How is metaphysics as a science
possible?
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