The Grad Student’S Guide to Kant’S Critique of Pure Reason

By Joseph W. Long

While Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important and influential philosophical works in the history of Western thought, it is also known for being as inaccessible as it is brilliantan unreadable masterpiece. And as a cardinal text for students of philosophy in both the graduate and undergraduate levels, Kants first critique and its dense, ungainly style can therefore stand as an intimidating and even monumental challenge. But for careful students interested in exploring this pivotal work, Kants first critique can have profound implications for their understandings of both metaphysics and epistemologyas well as of the history of philosophy in general.

The Grad Students Guide to Kants Critique of Pure Reason is a valuable resource for students, professors, and scholars interested in learning more about Kants philosophy. It provides definitions for key terms that students of Kants first critique will need to understand, such as analytic, synthetic, a priori, and a posteriori. It discusses the nature and role of synthetic a priori judgments as well as Kants notion of experience and some of its important components. Including an examination of the historical context of the problem at the heart of Kants critique, it also explains Kants transcendental idealism, the transcendental proof, and his so-called first antinomy.

With terse and lucid treatments of Kants categories and principlesas well as a discussion of Kants critical refutation of skepticism, idealism, and dogmatic rationalismthis guidebook will offer students an illuminating way to make sense of Kants masterwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781532004049

Joseph W. Long

Joseph W. Long earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Purdue University in 2005. He is the author of The Grad Students Guide to Kants Critique of Pure Reason and has published articles on epistemology, religious pragmatism, and racism. He currently teaches at Butler University.

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Copyright © 2016 Joseph W. Long.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-0403-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-0404-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016912803

iUniverse rev. date: 10/25/2016

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART 1

I Critiquing Pure Reason

a. What is pure reason?

b. What sort of critique is Kant making?

c. What does Kant mean by metaphysics, and how is it related to the critique of pure reason?

d. What are synthetic a priori judgments, and what is their importance to the critique of pure reason?

II Experience

a. Sensations

b. Intuitions and Concepts

c. Appearances and Experience

III Transcendental Idealism and Proofs

a. Transcendental Idealism

b. Transcendental Proof

c. Conditions for the Possibility of Geometry

d. First Antinomy

IV Summary of Part 1

PART 2

I The Problem and the Setting

II The Categories of the Understanding

III The Forms of Judgment

IV The Principles of Pure Understanding

V Logic

VI Regulative and Constituitive Ideas

VII Experience (Revisited)

VIII Metaphysics

IX Refutation of Skepticism, Idealism, and Dogmatic Rationalism

CONCLUSION

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER READING

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work would not be possible without the contributions of many colleagues, professors, students, and friends. I am deeply indebted to Professor William Charron, whose graduate seminar on Kant’s first critique provided both the groundwork for this study guide and the inspiration for its publication. I also wish to thank Professors Manfred Kuehn, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Jan Cover, and William McBride for their guidance and inspiration. I owe a debt of thanks to my colleagues Professors John Tilley, Jason Eberl, and Randy Jensen for stimulating conversations about Kant’s philosophy.

In particular, I would like to acknowledge the gracious mentorship of the late Professor William L. Rowe (1931–2015), whose life and work exemplified the sovereign nature of reason.

INTRODUCTION

The Critique of Pure Reason (commonly known within the field of philosophy as Kant’s first critique, as it precedes his Critique of Practical Reason and Critique of Judgment) was first published in 1781, with a second edition following in 1787. It is the paramount philosophical publication of the Enlightenment and one of the most important and influential works in the history of Western thought.

It is also one of the cardinal texts for students of philosophy at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Any PhD candidate taking her prelim exams in the history of philosophy can expect a hearty array of questions about the Critique of Pure Reason. And any graduate student interested in metaphysics or epistemology would do himself a great disservice if he failed to take a seminar on Kant’s seminal work.

My own prelim exam in the history of modern and contemporary philosophy featured eight essay questions. Three of those were about Kant’s first critique. During my first faculty interviews at the American Philosophical Association meetings, several of my prospective employers asked me questions about Kant simply to gauge my understanding of his philosophy and its historical context. And as a professor and instructor at Purdue University, Northwestern College, University of St. Thomas, and IUPUI, I have continued to emphasize the importance of Kant’s metaphysics and epistemology.

I think graduate students in philosophy should find this little guide helpful. But this book is not intended exclusively for grad students. I hope it will serve as a valuable resource for undergraduates, teaching assistants, professors and other scholars, as well as those individuals outside of academia who have a general interest in Kant’s philosophy.

The Critique of Pure Reason has gained a reputation as a brilliant but inaccessible philosophical treatise, an unreadable masterpiece. While it’s true that the Critique