The Unity of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Experience, Language, and Knowledge PDF
Preview The Unity of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Experience, Language, and Knowledge
The Unity of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason Experience, Language, and Knowledge by T. C. Williams Studies in the History of Philosophy Volume 4 The Edwin Mellen Press Lewiston/Queenston Williams, Terence C. The Unity of Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason:' Experience, Language, and Knowledge This is volume 4 in the continuing series Studies in the History of Philosophy Volume 4 ISBN 0-88946-301-8 SHP Series ISBN 0-88946-300-X Copyright©1987. Terence C. Williams All rights reserved. For information contact: The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press Box 450 Box 67 Lewiston. New York Queenston, Ontario USA 14092 LOS lLO Printed in the United States of America I'M HANWYLYD GWYNNE Experience is our first instruction, and in its progress is so inexhaustible in new information, that in the inter connected lives of all future generations, there will never be any lack of new knowledge that can be ingath ered. .. But though all our knowledge begins with experi ence, it does not follow that it all arises out of experi ence. KANT, Critique of Pure Reason, 1st ed. 1781, 2nd ed. 1787. PREFACE Despite the fact that more than two centuries have passed since the publication of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and despite the universal acceptance of the work as a water-shed in the history of philosophical thought, it remains, to this day, peculiarly baffling as to the precise nature of its central theme. It continues to be better known, in point of fact, for the details of particular arguments on fragmentary topics than with regard to how these are related together within the wider context of the whole. At the same time, we have Kant's assurance that this enigmatic work is written around a strong central theme - and, indeed, as he makes the point in the second edition Preface, that its manifold difficulties are easily resolved by those who have mastered 'the idea of the whole'. It will be my object in this book to seek an understanding of the theme that is clearly proclaimed here by Kant through attending to views on language which were current in Germany during the latter half of the eighteenth century and which, as I shall argue, constitute the implicit, if unacknowledged, assumption on which the whole work rests. It must clearly remain outside the scope of this short book to offer anything like a comprehensive defence of Kant's position. My purpose will be more than served if I succeed in my main intention of offering a convincing elaboration of this 'idea of the whole', as this is given principally in the 'Aesthetic' and 'Analytic', while, at the same time, demonstrating that certain of the well-worn criticisms of Kant's position fall far short of the 'knock-down' force which is so often ascribed to them. To this extent, the book is offered in the hope that it will provide, not only a useful introduction to the complexities of Kant's masterpiece, but, also, a necessary basis for the study of the deeper implications of his Critical Idealism. I should like to thank Jakob Amstutz, John Bruce, Jay Newman, Douglas Odegard of Guelph, and Alan Montefiore of Oxford for help Preface at various times in writing the book. This, of course, is not to commit them to any of the views expressed. My thanks are due, too, to the University of Guelph for a financial grant towards the book's prepa ration, and Louise Koep£ler for the production of an excellent type script. University of Guelph T.e. WILLIAMS Guelph, Ontario December, 1985 CONTENTS Preface vii Main References and Abbreviations xi 1. Perception as a Mode of Knowledge 1 2. Experience and Language 12 3. Kant's 'Copernican' Revolution in Philosophy 29 4. The Transcendental Conditions of Experience 47 5. The Analytic-Synthetic Distinction ~ 6. Experience and Knowledge 96 7. Appearances and 'Things in Themselves' 126 8. The Notion of Noumenon 132- 9. The Empirical-Transcendental Distinction 152 10. Concluding Remarks 168 170 Bibliography 173 Index MAIN REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS The references to Kant's works are given to the pages of the Berlin Academy edition. The pagings of the first and second editions of the Critique of Pure Reason are given, respectively, following the N. ~emp Smith translation of this work, under the prefixes 'A' and 'B'. Full references are given in the bibliography. The Unity of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason Experience, Language, and Knowledge
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