"Critique Of Pure Reason"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," which is the great thinker's most critically acclaimed work. It presents Kant's numerous arguments in favor of the possibility of metaphysics and shows how he tried to establish a much-needed link between science and metaphysics. It also discusses how he tried to bridge the gap between reason and metaphysics with the help of priori and posteriori.

From the Paper:

"In the Critique, Kant invites science 'to undertake anew the most difficult of all its tasks, namely, that of self-knowledge, and to institute a tribunal which will assure to reason its lawful claims'. This tribunal is 'no other than the critique of pure reason' (Axi) and thus in the book Kant presented numerous arguments in favor of the possibility of metaphysics and tried to establish a much-needed link between science and metaphysics. Kant was fully aware of the shortcomings of both pure reason and pure metaphysics. He understood the problems posed by the two fields in exclusivity and hence tried to bridge the gap with the help of priori and posteriori. According to him we need a priori in order to move to posteriori. He feels that at some level all sciences require priori- i.e. a prior knowledge that mind just happens to possess and which happens to be true as well. The mind, Kant maintains, must be capable of holding true knowledge or generating it. For example it is important for it to know that night changes into day and day into night because of some heavenly changes. When it possesses this knowledge, it can move on to posterior to test the truth of it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• N. Kemp Smith, A Commentary to Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason', 2nd edn (London: Macmillan, 1930)
• Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Werner S. Pluhar (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996

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