Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide)
By SparkNotes
()
About this ebook
Making the reading experience fun!
SparkNotes Philosophy Guides are one-stop guides to the great works of philosophy–masterpieces that stand at the foundations of Western thought. Inside each Philosophy Guide you’ll find insightful overviews of great philosophical works of the Western world.
Read more from Spark Notes
Bird by Bird (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Lear: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5As You Like It (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Merchant of Venice: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Fear Shakespeare Audiobook: Julius Caesar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsiders (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMuch Ado About Nothing (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRichard III (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Fear Shakespeare Audiobook: Romeo & Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Autobiography of Malcom X (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of Solitude (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlas Shrugged SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeasure for Measure (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Henry V (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTempest: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Winter's Tale (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Merchant of Venice (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Gentlemen of Verona (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing Lear (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Raisin in the Sun (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComedy of Errors (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dune (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRichard II (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Kill a Mockingbird SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet (No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide)
Related ebooks
Critique of Practical Reason (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Will to Doubt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudy Guide to Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato: The Complete Works (31 Books) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo Essays on Entropy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Bertrand Russell Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Resurrection?: An Introduction to the Belief in the Afterlife in Judaism and Christianity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Philosophy of Auguste Comte Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Greek Philosophy & Other Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAristotle in Plain and Simple English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDialogues Concerning Natural Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael Oakeshott's Skepticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFathers and Sons (Translated by Constance Garnett with a Foreword by Avrahm Yarmolinsky) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutlines of Metaphysic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Origin of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Sense and the Sensible Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Logic as the Science of the pure Concept Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBergson and his Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDescartes' Meditation on First Philosophy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Philosophical Investigations (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Meaning of Truth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Faith Is a Virtue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiscipline and Punish (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Walter Pater: Complete Writings: The Renaissance, Marius The Epicurean, Imaginary Portraits, Plato and Platonism... (Bauer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifty Thinkers Who Shaped the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conversations with Isaiah Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Book Notes For You
Summary of The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Workbook for Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill: Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Summary of 12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by John Gottman: Conversation Starters Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Untamed by Glennon Doyle: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig: Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Ichiro Kishimi's and Fumitake Koga's book: The Courage to Be Disliked: Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy: Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab: Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5David D. Burns’ Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy | Summary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 AM Club Summary: Business Book Summaries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much Ado About Nothing (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Fear Shakespeare Audiobook: Romeo & Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel by Jeanine Cummins: Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related categories
Reviews for Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide)
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (SparkNotes Philosophy Guide) - SparkNotes
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Immanuel Kant
© 2003, 2007 by Spark Publishing
This Spark Publishing edition 2014 by SparkNotes LLC, an Affiliate of Barnes & Noble
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (including electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
Sparknotes is a registered trademark of SparkNotes LLC
Spark Publishing
A Division of Barnes & Noble
120 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
www.sparknotes.com /
ISBN-13: 978-1-4114-7351-5
Please submit changes or report errors to www.sparknotes.com/.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Context
Overall Summary
Preface
Preamble
First Part
Second Part, Sections 14-26
Second Part, Sections 27-39
Third Part, Sections 40-49
Third Part, Sections 50-56
Conclusion
Solution
Appendices
Kant's Tables of Categories
Analytic Overview
Study Questions
Review & Resources
Terms
Context
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is a nexus of modern philosophy. He brings together everything that came before him, and is the starting point for everything that came after him. The philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries is generally characterized as being split between empiricists (most of whom were British) and rationalists (most of whom were French or German). While Kant was taught in a thoroughly rationalist tradition, he was able to use the best philosophy of both groups and reconcile their differences.
The rationalists placed a heavy emphasis on metaphysics and knowledge gained through the exercise of the unaided intellect. They were skeptical about knowledge acquired from experience, arguing that the senses are unreliable. Knowledge from experience, they argued, cannot carry the certainty and necessity that characterizes the abstract reasoning of mathematics or geometry. Thus, they set about seeing what other certain or necessary truths they could learn through abstract reason alone. The result was a great deal of energetic speculation as to the nature of God, the ultimate constituents of matter, and the soul. Among the most significant rationalists were Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz.
The empiricists, on the other hand, believed strongly in experiential knowledge. John Locke asserted that the mind is a blank slate at birth, and that all our knowledge comes from experience. Even mathematics, he suggests, is built from inferences and generalizations we make regarding experience. The goal of an empiricist is to systematize our knowledge from experience, to show how the complexities of human knowledge are built up from simple sensations. George Berkeley asserted that nothing exists except in experience—being is being perceived.
David Hume argued that we have no rational justification for inferring any general laws about experience, and that our knowledge
of cause and effect is more a matter of custom than necessity.
Kant said that Hume's skeptical challenge is what first spurred him toward his critical philosophy. Hume asks how we can make inferences regarding experience: how can I predict what will happen in the future based on what has happened in the past? In order to do so, Hume suggests, I must know some sort of uniformity principle
that says that events in the future will follow the same sorts of general laws that they have followed in the past. But how can I know this uniformity principle? It isn't logically or necessarily true, so I can't simply infer it prior to experience like I can with mathematical knowledge. However, I fall into a vicious circle if I claim that I know it from experience, since I need to already have the uniformity principle in order to infer that—the uniformity principle has been true in the past, and it will continue to be true in the future. Thus, Hume concludes that we cannot know that future events will follow the same laws as past events: we just get into the habit of expecting it.
Kant first answers Hume's skepticism and reconciles rationalism and empiricism in his magnum opus, the Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781. This book is long, dense, and difficult, and was generally misunderstood. Kant published the Prolegomena two years later as a primer, hoping to make his ideas more accessible.
Overall Summary
Prompted by Hume's skepticism, Kant addresses the question of whether and how metaphysics is possible. Metaphysicians have yet to agree on one definite proposition, or even to establish a basis for agreement upon judgments.
Kant distinguishes between a priori and a posteriori cognitions and between analytic and synthetic judgments. Knowledge we gain from experience is a posteriori, and what we can know independent of experience is a priori. A synthetic judgment is one whose predicate contains information not contained in the subject, and an analytic judgment is one whose predicate is a mere analysis of the subject. Kant claims that mathematics, natural science, and metaphysics all lay claim to synthetic a priori propositions—propositions that are necessarily but not trivially true, and can be known prior to experience. Since mathematics and pure natural science are well-established fields, he proposes to examine how their synthetic truths are possible a priori in the hope