Immanuel Kant’s Metaphysics
THEME
In regard to Metaphysics, Kant’s results were seemingly the opposite to what he strove to achieve, cf. the claim, in his Introduction, that “In this enquiry . . . I venture to assert that there is not a single metaphysical problem which has not been solved, or for the solution of which the key has not been supplied.” In the summing up of his Prolegomena, he records with evident pride in achievement: “Anyone who has read through and grasped the principles of the CPR . . . will look forward with delight to metaphysics, which is now indeed in his power.”
Yet the image of an “Alleszermalmer” persists, who dismantled the foundations of a philosophical edifice which had barely withstood the ravagement of Hume’s onslaught on its “occult fancies”! These discrepancies should make us wonder how one of the three greatest thinkers of all time could be so far deluded as to miss the outcome and import of his efforts! I propose to consider this problematic issue from a slightly different than ‘usual’ perspective.
I
To put the question of the suitability of metaphysics as a science is equivalent to asking, “what is metaphysical knowledge?”, hence “can metaphysical conclusions be verified?” In the CPR, this issue is encapsulated in the question, “How are synthetic a priori judgements possible?”
But before I address it, let me offer something as a curtain raiser:
The metaphysical possibility as well as the epistemology of newtonian absolute space remained a mystery until Kant solved it . . . [Guyer 10].
My intention here is to throw into focus the possibility of metaphysics having stood still in the interim; that no successor (as Kant indubitably expected) has taken up the cudgels and ...
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...g, but in my view a horizon beckoning for metaphysics by which to orient itself.
Bibliography
Kant, Immanuel: Kritik der reinen Vernunft & Prolegomena. Cited according to standard method.
Secondary texts
Adorno, Theodor W.: Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. Polity Press, Oxford 2001.
Ameriks, Karl: Kant and the Fate of Autonomy. Cambridge UP 2000.
Dryer, P. D.: Kant’s Solution for Verification in Metaphysics. Allen & Unwin, London 1966.
Gardner, Sebastian: Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. Routledge, London 1999.
Guyer, Paul (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge UP 1992.
Heidegger, Martin: Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt 1973.
Janaway, Christopher: Self and World in Schopenhauer’s Philosophy. Clarendon, Oxford 1989.
Pinkard, Terry: German Philosophy 1760-1860. Cambridge UP 2002.
In the August 30, 1905 edition of Detroit’s Free Press, the sportswriters ran a small blurb announcing the arrival of a Detroit Tigers rookie, Ty Cobb. They stated, “Cobb left the South Atlantic League with a batting average of .328. He will not pile up anything like that in this league, and he doesn’t expect to” (Allen 177). Their prediction ironically rung true. Cobb hit better than their projected .328 batting average twenty times in his twenty four seasons (McCallum 217). Tyrus Raymond Cobb’s prolific career leads many fans and historians to believe that he deserves the title of greatest hitter of all time. However, some critics would argue that Ted Williams warrants this distinction. Unfortunately for Williams and his fans, the hitting prowess of Williams falls short of Cobb’s. While Williams arguably displayed a great hitting ability, Cobb remains the better batsman.
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball.
Kant, Immanuel, and Mary J. Gregor. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.
The researcher has chosen to write this paper on hitting because she has played softball for twelve years and the perfect softball swing has always eluded her. The softball swing is one of the most difficult softball skills to achieve greatness in. There are a number of great hitters all with different batting stances and styles, each one comfortable to them. There are many different tactics and coaching ideas out there to help improve hitting. In fact, there are several videos now on the market to help the softball player perform better. Coaches often teach hitting drills to improve batting techniques and ability. Confidence is an important factor in hitting. If the player lacks confidence then she will not be a good hitter. Softball is not only a physical game but a mental game.
Some of his musings involved disparaging remarks made about the church itself. He considered the church to be corrupt and exploitative...
Hitting a baseball is a task that is learned through trial and error, which makes changing a batter’s swing extremely difficult. Once that batter finds their comfort zone and makes contact they will do the same thing until it fails them once again. Perfecting the mechanics of that swing won’t create an exceptional hitter, but it will create a swing that consistently incr...
Throughout Kant’s, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, some questionable ideas are portrayed. These ideas conflict with the present views of most people living today.
Immanuel Kant’s work on Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals explores the understanding of morels, and the process of which these morals are developed through philosophy. He also disentangled the usefulness and foundation of the instituted of religion.
Because ideas cannot be experienced directly, they do not have causes and are positioned in the a-temporal or metaphysical dimension. As such, no one can properly know that ideas such as God, freedom, or immortality exist; they cannot be subject to understanding. Thus in the end, Kant’s critique of metaphysics does in fact rehabilitate a supersensible reality. Only now, universals exist within the interior of the human mind rather than in external, objective reality. These ideas are not simply flights of fancy or chimeras. Although we cannot experience them, they nevertheless follow logical rules of thought, and we can reasonably act as if they exist. For Kant, acting as if freedom were possible is not delusional. In fact, it makes us act morally to conceptualize and act upon the ideas of God or freedom. Kant’s humanistic side is most clearly articulated in his theory of freedom. For Kant, humans are not simply the aggregate of natural forces. Humans are distinctly unique because we freely give to ourselves an imperative to follow. To be moral is to act in accordance with a universal law. In Kant’s writings there are essentially two versions of this categorical imperative: act according to a maxim which can be a universal principle and act in
The Transcendental Deductions of the pure concept of the understanding in Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, in its most general sense, explains how concepts relate a priori to objects in virtue of the fact that the power of knowing an object through representations is known as understanding. According to Kant, the foundation of all knowledge is the self, our own consciousness because without the self, experience is not possible. The purpose of this essay is to lay out Kant’s deduction of the pure concept of understanding and show how our concepts are not just empirical, but concepts a priori. We will walk through Kant’s argument and reasoning as he uncovers each layer of understanding, eventually leading up to the conclusion mentioned above.
Holmstrom, A. (2004). The effects of the media on the body image: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48(2), 196-217.
Kant directly deals with the problems presented in Hume's analysis of metaphysics. Where Hume stops his line of thinking and becomes skeptical as to the existence of metaphysics as a science, Kant picks up. He proceeds to analyze both the validity of metaphysics as a science and a force in our lives. Turning to the methods of other credible men in the scientific field- such as Copernicus- Kant develops a whole new approach to looking at the world. However, like Hume, Kant encounters an obstacle and does not find a solution for it.
Mill, J.S. (1852). A Peer Reviewed Academic Resource, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/milljs/ on February 15th, 2014.
...d around, and the empiricists and rationalists have managed to build and destroy certain views in ways that make my head spin, but Kant’s view will always fascinate me. Not only because he constructs a world that we are not the center of, and he boils reality down to mental conceptions. He makes one wonder about this world of impossibility. He realizes that as human beings we yearn to know and believe, and search for answers to an infinite amount of possibilities, and there is a lot of truth to this. We still search for and ask questions which cannot easily be answered because our reason propels to. As Kant once said “Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore,but which, as transcending all its powers also not able to answer.