The Unity of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Experience, Language, and Knowledge

188 Pages·1987·11.069 MB·

by  Terence Charles Williams

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