Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804)
2
Topics covered in the reading
1 The nature, scope,
& limits of human
2 The transcendental
knowledge
ideas of pure reason:
a priori & a posteriori
knowledge self, cosmos, & God
analytic & synthetic
judgments
synthetic a priori 3 Morality & metaphysics:
judgments & how they freedom, immortality, &
are possible
God
phenomena, noumena, &
the "transcendental ideas
of pure reason"
3
Introductory Note
What is knowledge?
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The Rationalist-Empiricist Dispute
According to Kant,
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There are two basic types of
human knowledge:
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The distinguishing characteristics
of pure a priori knowledge:
Necessity
and
Strict universality
(no possibility of an
exception)
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A priori judgments are
necessarily & universally
true (or false), whereas
a posteriori (empirical)
judgments are never
necessarily or universally true
(or false).*
*They are contingently true (or false).
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A further Kantian distinction
Analytic Judgments
vs.
Synthetic Judgments
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It's all about subjects
& predicates
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In an analytic judgment
or proposition,
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In a synthetic judgment or
proposition,
the predicate adds
to our knowledge of
the subject in a way
that logical analysis,
by itself, cannot The predicate of a
(e.g., "some houses synthetic proposition
are white"). augments & amplifies
our knowledge of the
subject.
12
The relationships between
analytic, synthetic, a priori, &
a posteriori judgments
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Analytic judgments express a priori
knowledge, i.e., they are
necessarily & universally true
(or false),
& they can be verified or falsified
independently of sense experience,
i.e., by logical analysis alone.
15
A posteriori judgments
(which must be verified or falsified on
the basis of sense experience,
not through logical analysis)
16
So . . . .
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there are
(uncontroversially)
synthetic a priori
judgments
(This is controversial!)
19
A synthetic a priori judgment
is one that is
necessarily & universally true (& thus not
derived from sense experience, i.e., it is
a priori)
and in which
the predicate adds something to our
knowledge of the subject that could not be
known merely by logical analysis of the
subject.
20
Examples of synthetic a priori judgments
(according to Kant)
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This leads to what Kant calls
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To this general question, Kant adds
several subsidiary questions:
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Kant's "Copernican Revolution
in Philosophy"
Objects
?
Mind
26
According to Kant,
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The structure of the mind
Pure
Reason
(Vernunft)
Understanding
(Verstand)
Categories Sensibility
(Sinnlichkeit)
Categories
of the Under- Forms of
space & Forms of
standing time Sensibility
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Kant's overall view
Transcendental Ideas (Rational Belief)
& Moral Postulates
Noumena
Reason
(Vernunft) Understanding Objects of
Consciousness
(Verstand)
Categories Phenomena
Mind Sensibility
(Sinnlichkeit)
Forms of
space &
time
(Knowledge)
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Categories of the Understanding
1 Of Quantity 3 Of Relation
Unity (Singularity) Substance-Attribute
Plurality (Particularity) Cause-&-Effect
Totality (Universality) Community (Interaction)
2 Of Quality 4 Of Modality
Affirmation Possibility-Impossibility
Negation Existence-Nonexistence
Limitation Necessity-Contingency
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The categories of the
understanding
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However,
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from knowledge to
rational belief
The transcendental
metaphysics of Pure Reason
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The Transcendental Ideas
of Pure Reason
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The content of the
transcendental ideas
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The Transcendental Idea of
the Self
a thinking substance (soul)
simple & unchangeable
has a personal identity that persists
through time
exists in relation to other real things
outside it
experiencer & thinker
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The Transcendental Idea of
the Cosmos
(or world-in-general)
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The Transcendental Idea of
God
The primordial,
single, self-
subsistent, all-
sufficient, supreme
ground of being
Supreme creative
& purposive reason
as the cause of the
universe
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The Justification of the
Transcendental Ideas
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The Idea of the Self enables
reason to construe
all of "my" subjective experiences as existing in a
single subject (my "self"),
all of "my" powers of perception & thought as
derived from a single source (my "self"),
all changes within "me" as belonging to the states
of one & the same permanent being (my "self"),
and
all phenomena in space as entirely different from
the activity of thought (i.e., as other than my
"self").
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In other words, the idea of
the Self
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The Idea of the Cosmos
enables reason to
since God is
and Supreme Reason
47
the transcendental ideas
are "regulative,"
not "constitutive."
That is, they guide or "regulate" our study
of the world by leading us to proceed AS IF
the Self, the Cosmos-as-a-whole, & God are
real.
However, the objects of the transcendental ideas
(Self, Cosmos, & God) do not "constitute" actual
objects of experience; they are "merely" ideal
objects, which, if real, add systematic unity &
coherence to our experience of the phenomenal
world.
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But we cannot KNOW
whether or not the Self, the
Cosmos, & God are real
because they are "transcendental"
(noumenal) objects, i.e., they are not
phenomena that appear in space & time
& to which the categories of the
understanding can be applied.
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Morality, Happiness, &
Metaphysics
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Kant's distinction between
and
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As we have seen,
Similarly . . . ,
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pure practical reason,
in an effort to see
human existence & postulates
human moral effort the reality of moral
as meaningful, freedom, the
immortality of the
soul, & the existence
of God.
(In the Critique of Practical Reason (1788),
Kant calls freedom, immortality, & God "the
postulates of practical reason.")
53
Freedom of the Will
According to Kant,
morality (the moral law)
tells us what we OUGHT to do.
55
According to Kant,
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On this subject,
categorical
imperatives,
i.e., absolute & hypothetical
unconditional moral imperatives (e.g.,
commands (e.g., "Be "If you wish to have
honest"); a good reputation,
be honest").
they are NOT
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In general, the moral law says,
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Reason is not satisfied
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"What . . . is the supreme
good of the moral world that
a pure but practical reason
commands us to occupy?"
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For such an ideal world to exist, two
things are necessary:
the existence of God;
Only God can guarantee
and
the ideal proportionality of
the immortality of morality & happiness.
the soul. If happiness &
unhappiness are to be
necessary consequences of
our conduct in the
empirical world, then there
must be a future world in
which the soul lives on.
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Thats all,
folks!
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