Questions tagged [critique-of-pure-reason]

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Kant's analysis of self-consciousness in CPR

I am fairly familiar with the general scheme of Kant's philosophy. I started reading Critique of Pure Reason since a few weeks ago. I think I understood nearly all parts (but I maybe mistaken) but now ...
infatuated's user avatar
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Why does Immanuel Kant never doubt the existence of matter and external world themselves?

Why does Immanuel Kant never doubt the existence of matter and external world themselves? Does he presuppose their existence? If so, why? What I mean to ask is according to Immanuel Kant if we know ...
Adriraj Mukhopadhyay's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
75 views

Categories of the Understanding

Kant's categories are supposed to tell us what kinds of judgments human minds are capable of making, but they are rather artificial. One commentator I've read says Kant was more concerned with filling ...
David Gudeman's user avatar
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Kant Critique of Pure Reason, how is time subjective to human intuition yet objective in regard to appearances?

I'm confused on a section in the Critique of Pure Reason. Kant says "Hence time is merely a subjective condition of our (human) intuition (an intuition that is always sensible-- i.e. inasmuch as ...
Ruby Levesque's user avatar
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What is the difference between the thing-in-itself and substance? (Kant)

I have thought about this for a long time, but unfortunately still do not manage to understand how exactly the thing in itself differs from substance. I am aware that the thing in itself is something ...
Tetragrammaton's user avatar
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58 views

Is 'Critique of Pure Reason' a contradictory project? [closed]

Kant is using Pure Reason to critique Pure Reason. Is that not contradictory? PS: I have not read the book yet.
tryingtobeastoic's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Transcendental Analytic, Critique of Pure Reason

Why is the transcendental deduction included in the section called "The Transcendental Analytic"? Are his principles in this section not synthetic? Is the principle of the necessity of the ...
Gerry's user avatar
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Appendix to Transcendental Doctrine of Elements, Critique of Pure Reason

Trying to encapsulate the essence of what Kant is saying here concerning the regulative use of pure reason. This is what I'm getting: Understanding, which is the categorical application of reason, ...
Gerry's user avatar
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Kant, Critique of Pure Reason : Cosmological proof

"Both the proofs [for the cosmological and ontological arguments] previously cited were attempted transcendentally, i.e., independently of empirical principles. For although the cosmological ...
Gerry's user avatar
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CPR Kant's three proofs of god

A616/B644: "There is something exceedingly remarkable in the fact that when one presupposes something existing, one can find no way around the con clusion that something also exists necessarily. ...
Gerry's user avatar
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What is Quid Juris?

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant makes the famous distinction between quid facti and quid juris. Can someone please explain to me the difference between the two? Also what is the ...
John Smith's user avatar
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1 answer
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On Kant's third antinomy (CPR)

The thesis of Kant's third antinomy is based on the fact that, if the antithesis was true (i.e. there is no causality through freedom and thus only causality by natural laws) then, for any given ...
kronenbouh's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
269 views

Understanding some aspects of schematism in Kant's philosophy

I'm struggling to understand Kant's schematism. Kant says that imagination produces the synthesis of schemata and that schemata are how we can relate intuitions to concepts. He goes on to give the ...
Tarantula's user avatar
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4 answers
1k views

What is the meaning of "dialectic"and "analytic" in Kant's First Critique?

The meaning of the term dialectic, as in Transcendental Dialectic, in the Critique Of Pure Reason, is obscure. This, mixed with the already complex text, makes this term difficult to assess. A list of ...
RodolfoAP's user avatar
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What is the difference between the “thing in itself” and noumena?

“Things in themselves” and noumena are similar in Kantian metaphysics (Critique of Pure Reason, mostly) and interchangeable much of the time. The phenomena/noumena divide is integral to Kantian ...
Just Some Old Man's user avatar
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1 answer
120 views

What do we mean by "if we have a proposition which is thought in conjunction with its own necessity"?

I am reading an English translation of Critique of Pure Reason by Kant and came across the statement "if we have a proposition which is thought in conjunction with its own necessity, we have an a ...
Prathik Rajendran M's user avatar
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1 answer
180 views

Book or source recommendations on philosophy and the web

I am looking for a philosophical take on the Internet and so far find surprisingly little of what I was hoping for. While I am also interested in information theory, digital culture, social critique, ...
Nelson Alexander's user avatar
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1 answer
308 views

On Kant's use of "überhaupt" [in general] and "allgemein" [general]

What's the difference between 'überhaupt' and 'allgemein'? I'm still not fully in the grasp of what Kant exactly mean when he uses 'überhaupt' and 'allgemein'. In German, these are completely ...
T S's user avatar
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2 answers
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Prerequisites for Critique of Pure Reason

Is it reasonable to read the Critique of Pure Reason after having read the following books Hume - An enquiry concerning human understanding Descartes - Discourse on method Descartes - Meditations ...
user35319's user avatar
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1 answer
311 views

According to Kant, while thinking of empty concepts without intuitions, what do we synthesise?

(This will be my last question on this book, for those of you getting bored of my questions). Very briefly I will describe the method of Transcendental Deduction (TD) in an over-simplistic manner, and ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
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Can somebody explain the second argument of B-deduction in CPR?

For me, the Transcendental Deduction aims at proving two things: Categories or pure concepts of understanding must be applied to the manifold of intuitions, i.e, they are necessary for cognition. ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
165 views

Problem with Refutation of Idealism

Can someone please defend Kant's refutation of idealism in the B-edition, because it seems untenable to me. First, he claims that 'I' am aware of myself being subjected to a specific temporal order ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
33 views

What if the premise of CPR's Transcedental Deduction is wrong?

The transcendental unity of apperception is that unity through which all the manifold given in an intuition is united in a concept of the object. It is therefore entitled objective, and must be ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
135 views

Why are concepts without intuitions blind?

I think at this point I understand all the transcendental arguments of CPR except this one - and probably this could considerably change my understanding of Kant as a whole. Here is my confusion. ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
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251 views

Does Kant justify intuitions existing without understanding?

Objects can indeed appear to us without necessarily having to be related to functions of the understanding. (A89/B122) Appearances can certainly be given in intuition without functions of the ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
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2 answers
308 views

What's Kant defense of a noumenal world actually existing?

There is a sharp distinction according to most commentaries between Berkeley and Kant - and perhaps it's purely due to the fact that Kant doesn't render experience in-itself enough to make sense of ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
366 views

Kant on triangles vs unicorns

In the critique of pure reason, according to my reading, Kant is positing that propositions of mathematics are true because they can be situated in space and time, i.e, they can be conceived in space ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
191 views

Why are mathematical judgments legitimate while metaphysical are not, according to Kant's CPR?

In my reading of Kant's CPR (I mention this because I don't want an answer according to his other critiques), I don't seem to understand on what basis is Kant distinguishing statements in math and ...
Rajan Aggarwal's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Is it better to read Kant in English or Italian?

I have heard that it is quite a hard task to translate Kant's ideas from German. Is it better to read the Critique of Pure Reason in English or Italian? I have heard some people say that English is ...
user35319's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
284 views

A priori knowledge and experience in Kant

In the introduction of the critique of pure reason, Kant says "That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt. For how is it possible that the faculty of cognition should be ...
user35319's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
217 views

How do Kantian's respond to the "Neglected Alternative"?

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant posits two seemingly contradictory claims: The nature of Things in Themselves, as they exist apart from the phenomenal world, are unknowable. Time and Space do ...
Charlie's user avatar
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Secondary Work on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

I'm currently reading through the Critique of Pure Reason for the first time and have on hand a book by Martin Heidegger titled, "Phenomenological Interpretations of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason." I ...
Lol ZeeDoodles's user avatar
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0 answers
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Criticizing Arguments: Identifying Weaknesses

I have recently gained interest in Philosophy as I quite arbitrarily came across an interesting video on YouTube discussing the importance of Philosophy and how it evolved throughout history. I more ...
Flavio Esposito's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
374 views

Abridged version of Kant's Critiques, especially the Critique of Pure Reason

I'm a mathematician. I'm considering reading Emmanuel Kant's famous Critique of Pure Reason to help me think. I care more about the ideas rather than the ways of his presentation, which I'm not ...
Daniel Li's user avatar
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1 answer
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Did Kant classify the same proposition as both pure and impure a priori?

I'm confused about what seems to be a contradiction between statements from sections I and II of the introduction of (Meiklejohn's translation of) Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. The section I ...
Quinn Culver's user avatar
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1 answer
807 views

Is my understanding on Kant's section contained in the critique of pure reason "The transcendental Aesthetic" correct?

I'm attempting to 'self-study' Kant's "critique of pure reason". I've just finished the section "The transcendental Aesthetic"" from both versions of the book and I'm looking for feedback on what I ...
Gimchess's user avatar
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0 answers
60 views

Critical rationalism and Evolution

Lets assume I. Kant would have became aware of Darwins theory of Evolution after writing his "Kritik der reinen Vernunft". How could the knowledge have affected his idea about the "ursprünglich ...
Raphael J.F. Berger's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
130 views

In the Critique of Pure Reason, what is the difference between "schema" and "synthesis"?

I don't understand the difference between Schema and Synthesis. I have read the First Critique and I see Kant is using the words "schema" and "synthesis" as "intermediate" between intuitions and ...
asaf's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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First Critique Edition with both Akademie numbers and A/B numbers?

Most of the editions of the first Critique give the A/B numbers for the text, which is very useful. But some editions, especially the online edition of the Akademie edition of Kant use the Akademie ...
bopgah's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
4k views

Where did Kant say that "happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination"?

Can somebody tell me where this famous quote comes from? I mean in which book and on which page. I want to find this in German. If someone can provide the quote in German the way Kant wrote it, I ...
dorianp's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why do living things seek to keep living [closed]

It occurred to me that the greatest question is why does life want to keep living? Why? Ultimate question.
Dimitri's user avatar
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1 answer
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What are exactly intuitions in Kant's philosophy?

An intuition is a conscious objective direct representation of an object, according to A320/B376-77. It is direct in being non-conceptual, involving no mediating representation, and it is what ...
Ouazzani's user avatar
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1 answer
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What does Kant think about a priori concepts of causality?

This is an excerpt from Critique of Pure Reason, B13: Take the proposition: "Everything that happens has its cause." In the concept of something that happens, I think, to be sure, of an ...
Torstein's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
179 views

According to Kant - how is transcendental deduction of the forms of sensibility and categories of understanding possible?

It has been a long time since I've read the Critique of Pure Reason. My question is, how is the mind able to perform the transcendental deduction, according to Kant. What I'm getting at is... the way ...
Ameet Sharma's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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How does Kant derive the categories of the understanding from the logical forms of judgment in the Critique of Pure Reason?

I didn't arrive at any cogent and clear conception of the exact relation between Kant's logical forms of judgment and his categories, and most importantly, how he derives the latter from the former. &...
Ouazzani's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
419 views

Redefining the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction in Terms of Computational Complexity

I've been reading Kant for the first time and encountered Quine's objections to the analytic/synthetic distinction and am want to agree that they feel a little obscure in their definitions. That is, ...
LivingRobot's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
1k views

Kant's analytic/synthetic propositions

In the Critique of Pure Reason, an example of an analytic proposition is that all bodies are extended, and an example of a synthetic proposition is that all bodies are heavy (A7|B11), however in the ...
user24368's user avatar
11 votes
4 answers
3k views

A companion or guide to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

Which companion, or guide, would you recommend to someone trying to read and understand the original work, The Critique of Pure Reason? Why? I'm inclined towards these two, The Cambridge Companion to ...
Adeel Ansari's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
162 views

Unity of Apperception vs. Self Consciousness in Critique of Pure Reason

What is the difference between Unity of Apperception and Self- consciousness? From what I gather so far, Unity of Apperception is a particular part of Self-Consciousness in that UoA brings to ...
Barinder Singh's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
366 views

Good Introductions to Kants Critique of Judgment

Can somebody recommend any? I have come across Wicks & Hughes so far, but I am finding it very difficult. I am also finding it incredibly difficult reading through the Critique itself. Any advice ...
Ken Goldhaus's user avatar