Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

Immanuel Kant

• Publisher: Otbebookpublishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9783987441424
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

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 that this examination will shed light on the possibility of metaphysics as a science.

Table of contents

• Kant's Prolegomena
• PREFACE.
• INTRODUCTION.
• PROLEGOMENA.
• FIRST PART OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL PROBLEM.
• SECOND PART OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL PROBLEM.
• THIRD PART OF THE MAIN TRANSCENDENTAL PROBLEM.
• SCHOLIA.
• APPENDIX.
• Footnotes