Questions tagged [critique-of-pure-reason]
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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 ...
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209 views
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
...
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1answer
131 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 ...
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48 views
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.
...
2
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1answer
90 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 ...
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28 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 ...
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76 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.
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4answers
163 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 ...
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2answers
138 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 ...
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1answer
190 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 ...
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1answer
118 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 ...
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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 ...
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81 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 ...
2
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1answer
75 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 ...
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0answers
52 views
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 ...
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41 views
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 ...
3
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1answer
238 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 ...
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1answer
209 views
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 ...
4
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1answer
288 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 ...
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52 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 ...
3
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1answer
94 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 ...
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1answer
98 views
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 ...
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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 ...
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1answer
56 views
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.
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1answer
604 views
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 ...
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1answer
787 views
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
...
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0answers
151 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 ...
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1answer
2k views
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.
&...
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4answers
346 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, ...
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741 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 ...
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4answers
2k 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 ...
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0answers
155 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 ...
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2answers
275 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 ...
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Must Kant's a priori concepts of Space and Time be known to us before the 12 pure Categories of the Understanding?
As I continue my deep read of Kant's first critique, I'm struck by the fact that both space and time are a priori concepts, known to us prior to any experience, CPR(A) Transcendental Aesthetic, S.7 p....
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1answer
137 views
What does Rosenberg mean by the term “Strategy K” with reference to Kant?
In Rosenberg's Accessing Kant, he describes a certain 'Strategy K'. Could anyone succintly explain this strategy for me?
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699 views
How to improve critical thinking?
What are some ways to improve Critical Thinking, which is at the heart of philosophy? For example:
Kant's fundamental work Critique of Pure Reason advocates critical thinking already by its title.
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1answer
197 views
Connection between Kant's defense of the belief in God and Kant's categories?
Kant states in the Critique of Pure Reason (English translation) that
Thus the entire armament of reason, in the undertaking that one can
call pure philosophy, is in fact directed only at the ...
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2answers
787 views
Identifying three kinds of “unity” in Kant's “Critique of Pure Reason”
After reading about transcendental Aesthetics and transcendental logic, I perceive three kinds of unity in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason:
Unity of properties of an object which is sensed through ...
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1answer
82 views
Kant's cleavage of knowledge
In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant goes to great lengths to distinguish transcendental knowledge from other a priori knowledge. For Kant, is transcendental knowledge distinct from analytic or ...
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1answer
205 views
How would Kant defend the concept of the noumenon against Berkeley's charge?
Berkeley asserts that it is meaningless to speak of things-in-themselves that are not subject to human evaluation. Given that, no ampliative judgements can be made by postulating a causal relation ...
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21k views
Kant and free will
Could someone explain Kant's view on free will to me?
As I understand it, Kant says that it is necessary that we have free will, because otherwise it would be unreasonable to hold people responsible. ...
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2answers
473 views
Does Kant distinguish different types of “pure reason”?
Does Kant distinguish different types of "pure reason"s? Viz., is there a human "pure reason," angelic "pure reason," Godly "pure reason," etc.?
(cf. this comment)
This comment claims "it's quite ...
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Is our Philosophy, the Human Philosophy, the only possible Philosophy which can exist?
What I'm asking is if is there any possibility for a Non-human Philosophy, that is, a Philosophy founded on questions which we can't even conceive. Is possible a Philosophy of questions which only can ...
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1answer
243 views
What is the analytic-synthetic dilemma concerning existence?
Reading a paper on Descartes I found the following summary of criticism:
Stuart Hampshire, on the one hand, emphasizing the indubitability required of the principle by Descartes, concludes that ...
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3answers
388 views
Is math independent of our sensory experience?
I've been asking myself this and other questions in the field of philosophy of mathematics. Could we, if we were isolated from any kind of sensory experience, be able to learn mathematics?
This ...
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2answers
358 views
What is a good reference to see how noumena and phenomena are connected?
What philosophies or philosophers made attempts to unify noumena and phenomena as indistinct from each other, that is to show that they are all mere pattern representations* in a "mindspace"**? The ...
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1answer
158 views
Considering kantian determinism for phenomena, what's the point of ethics?
Kant's determinism seems to imply that if we (somehow) get to know all the physical properties of a certain object we can also know what will be the state of the latter object given a certain period ...
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325 views
How much is our understanding of Kant's Categorical Framework (published in German in 1781) obscured by translation and basic semantics?
Upon reading about and later researching [1] Kant's famous Categorical Framework, which is included as a key part of his classic Critique of Pure Reason (1781), I am struck by aspects that are quite ...
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1answer
285 views
I don't understand why Kant's definition of an analytic concept can't be expressed in terms of intensional logic
I've been studying the SEP article about intensional logic, and I think I have a good grasp of what "intension" means. The intension of a term like "bachelor" would be a function that designates a ...
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1answer
223 views
What is meant by transcendental idealism?
What exactly is meant by transcendential idealism? Is it simply the idea that we can't possibly observe things-in-themselves directly (like idealism), so (unlike idealism) we know they exist, but not ...
