Kant's prolegomena to any future metaphysics PDF
Preview Kant's prolegomena to any future metaphysics
KANT'S PROLEGOMENA TO ANY FUTURE METAPHYSICS EDITED IN ENGLISH DR. PAUL CARUS THIRD EDITION WITH AN ESSAY ON KANT'S PHILOSOPHY, AND OTHER SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL FOR THE STUDY OF KANT CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912 TRANSLATION COPYRIGHTED BY TheOpen Court PublishingCo. igo2. TRANSLA- TheOpen C PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. "jy"ANT'SProlegomena} although a small book, isindubitably the most importantof hiswritings. Itfurnishesuswitha keyto his main work, The CritiqueofPureReason; in fact, it isanextractcontaining all the salient ideasofKant'ssystem. It approaches the subject in the simplestandmostdirectway, and istherefore best adapted as an introduction intohisphilosophy. Forthisreason, TheOpenCourtPublishingCompanyhasdeemed it advisable to bring out a new edition of thework, keeping in viewits broader use as -a. preliminarysurveyand explanation of Kant'sphilosophy in general. In order to make thebookuseful for this broader purpose, the editor has not onlystatedhisown views concerning the problem underlying the Prolegomena(see page 167etseq.), but has also collected the most important ma- terialswhichhavereferencetoKant'sphilosophy, orto therecep- tion which was accordedtoitinvariousquarters(seepage241et seq.). The selections havenotbeenmadefromapartisanstand- point, buthavebeenchosenwithaviewtocharacterisingtheatti- tude of different minds, and to directing the student tothebest literatureon thesubject. It is not without good reasons that the appearance of the CritiqueofPureReason is regarded as the beginning ofanew erain thehistoryof philosophy; and so it seems thatacompre- hensionofKant'sposition, whetherweacceptorrejectit, isindis- pensabletothestudentofphilosophy. Itisnot hissolutionwhich 1Prolegomena means literally prefatory or introductory remarks. Itis theneuterpluralofthepresentpassiveparticipleofirpoAe'-yetv,tospeakhe/ore^ i.e.,tomakeintroductoryremarksbeforebeginningone'sregulardiscourse. iv PREFACE. makesthesageofKonigsberg theinitiatorofmodernthought, but hisformulationof theproblem. Thepresent translationispracticallynew, butitgoeswithout sayingthattheeditorutilisedthelaborsofhispredecessors,among whom Prof.JohnP.MahaffyandJohn H.Bernarddeservespecial credit. Richardson'stranslationof 1818 mayberegardedassuper- seded and has not been consulted, but occasional reference has been made tothatofProf. ErnestBelfortBax. Considering the diflSculties under which even these translators labored we must recognisethefactthat theydid theirworkwell, with painstaking diligence,greatloveofthesubject,andgoodjudgment. Theeditor ofthepresenttranslationhastheadvantageof beingto themanor born; moreover, he is pretty well versed in Kant's style; and whereverhediffers from his predecessorsin theinterpretationof aconstruction, he has deviated from them notwithout goodrea- sons. Nevertheless there are some passages which will still re- main doubtful, though happilytheyareoflittleconsequence. Asacuriosum in Richardson'stranslationProfessorMahaffy mentions that the words widersinnig ge-wundene Schnecken, which simply means "symmetric helices,"' are rendered by — "snailsrolled up contrarytoallsense" awording that is itself contrary to all sense and makes the whole paragraph unintelli- gible. We may add an instance of anothermistakethatmisses themark. Kantemploysin theAppendixa wordthatisnolonger usedinGerman. HespeaksoftheCentoderMetafhysikashaving neueLaffen and einen verdnderten Zuschnitt. Mr. Bax trans- lates Cento by "body,"La^^en by "outgrowths," andZuschnitt by "figure." His mistake is perhaps not less excusable than Richardson's; it iscertainlynot less comical, andit alsodestroys the sense, which in the present case is a very striking simile. 1Mahaffy not incorrectly translates "spirals winding opposite ways," andMr,Baxfollowshimverbatimeventotherepetitionofthefootnote. PREFACE. V CentoisaLatinword* derivedfrom the Greek nhirpm),^meaning "a garment of many patches sewed together,"or, as we might nowsay, "acrazyquilt." * * • Inthehopethat thisbookwillproveuseful, The OpenCourt PublishingCompanyoffersitasahelptothestudentofphilosophy. p. c. ITheFrenchcentonisstilliause. ZjcEi'Tpfoi',(z)one that hearsthemarksofthefcevrpoi',goad; arogue,(2)a patchedcloth;{3)anykindofpatchwork,especiallyversesmadeupofscraps fromotherauthors. : TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Kant's Prolegomena 1-163 Essayon Kant's PhilosophybyDr. PaulCarus. (WithPor- traitsof KantandGarve) 167-240 Supplementary Materials for the Study of Kant's Lite and Philosophy IntroductoryNote 243 Kant'sLifeandWritings. (AfterWindelband) 245 TheCritique of PracticalReason and theCritique of Judgment. (AfterWeber) 250 Kant'sViewsonReligion. (AfterSchwegler) 258 Kant andMaterialism. (AfterLange) 261 KantandDeism. (AfterHeinrich Heine.) With Fac- simile of the Title-page of the Critique of Pure Reason 264 TheKantianPhilosophy. (AfterArthurSchopenhauer) 279 HostileEstimateof KantbyaSwedenborgian. (After TheodoreF. Wright) 283 Facsimile and Translation of aLetterof Kant toHis Brother 285 Chronology of Kant's Life and Publications. (After Paulsen) 287 IndextoKant'sProlegomena 293 Indexto theArticleonKant'sPhilosophy 299
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