PHILOSOPHY

Critique of Pure Reason

Critique of Pure Reason

Introduction

Immanuel Kant authored the book called Critique of Pure Reason in the year of 1781. Kant's aim was to identify the scope as well as the limits of pure reason. Kant wanted to know the power of reason that what can reason determine in isolation. Huge claims have been made by Metaphysicians in relation to the reality that pure reason is based on but it is said to have conflicts. Kant was incited by the skepticism of Hume and starts to doubt the possibility of metaphysics.

Distinctions made by Kant are

Distinction between priori knowledge and posteriori knowledge

Distinction between synthetic as well as analytic behavior.

Posteriori knowledge is said to be a knowledge that is acquired via experience and priori knowledge is said to be crucial knowledge which is universal by nature and is independent of any experience. It constitutes knowledge concerned with for example, mathematics. From a perspective of analytic judgment the concept in predicate is said to be contained in the subject's concept. For example, a bachelor is said to be an uncommitted or unmarried man so in relation to the statement the predicate is the unmarried man. From the perspective of synthetic judgment, the predicate is said to entail the actual information which the subject lacks. So it can further be stated that synthetic oriented judgment is more informative then definitional. Technically, posteriori knowledge is said to be associated with synthetic judgment and priori knowledge is said to be associated with analytical judgment. For example, the judgment or the statement that all rabbits are white is said to be synthetic by nature since whiteness is not said to be a constituent of the concept of rabbit since a brown rabbit is still a rabbit even though it is not white in color. It can be termed as posteriori if it is said to be proven via experience (Kant, 1950, pp.4).

Kant further argues that the discipline of math as well as the principle of science is said to constitute synthetic apriori knowledge. An example of it is “7+5=12” which is said to be a priori knowledge due to the fact that it Is said to entail a truth that is universal and it is also said to be independent of any experience. On the contrary it can also be said that the answers concept is not constituted in the concept of 7+5. Kant further conveys that similar is also true for principles of science. For instance where it states that for every action done there is equal and opposite reaction it is because of the fact that is applicable universally which is priori by natue since posteriori only is related to experience (Kant, 1950, pp.10).

The very fact that one is capable of priori knowledge which is synthetic also suggests the fact that pure reason has the capability of analyzing the truth. But Kant refuses to follow the rationalist metaphysics to declare the fact that pure reason as the power and the ...