PHIL 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Transcendental Philosophy, A Priori And A Posteriori
4 May 2018
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History of Modern Philosophy
4.20.18 Lecture Notes – Kant
- Transcendental philosophy – an epistemological enquiry
- Kant calls for revolution
o Metaphysics were not going anywhere
o Objects conform to our mind and our cognitive faculties
- Also talks about dogmatic metaphysics
- CPR – Kant wants to explain how scientific knowledge in general is possible
- Conceive of a body and remove all properties of the body
- You cannot get rid of the concept of the space that the body takes up
- Also thinks the temporal component of our experience is given to us by our mind and
not the world
- We experience things in space and time (he also regards as a priori concepts), which are
added by our cognitive faculties to our knowledge
o Space and time do not exist independently of us
o Necessary preconditions of our experience of objects
- Kant would reject the Leibnizian view that space is relative and the Newtonian view that
space is absolute
o He would reject both views because he thinks ultimately space and time do not
exist
- Analytic and synthetic judgments
o Classes of judgments/propositions
o Analytic proposition – the concept of the predicate does not add anything to the
concept of the subject
▪ A is B
▪ What is said about A, which is B, is already contained in the concept of A
▪ Hume added:
• A priori – all analytic propositions are a priori (known independent
of experience)
• Necessary – true in all worlds
• This category is relations of ideas
o Synthetic proposition – concept of the predicate goes beyond what is already
contained in the concept of the subject
▪ Hume added these distinctions:
• Contingent – could have been otherwise
• A posteriori
• This category is matter of fact
- Kant breaks down these barriers and gives examples of cross-overs
- Mathematical judgments are synthetic, a priori, and necessary
o He says that 5+7 does not contain the concept of 12
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Document Summary
Kant calls for revolution: metaphysics were not going anywhere, objects conform to our mind and our cognitive faculties. Cpr kant wants to explain how scientific knowledge in general is possible. Conceive of a body and remove all properties of the body. You cannot get rid of the concept of the space that the body takes up. Also thinks the temporal component of our experience is given to us by our mind and not the world. Kant would reject the leibnizian view that space is relative and the newtonian view that space is absolute: he would reject both views because he thinks ultimately space and time do not exist. Kant breaks down these barriers and gives examples of cross-overs. Note for kant, intuition has to do with experience. Next examples of a priori and synthetic knowledge pure geometry: straight line between two points is the shortest path. Idea of shortest path is not in the concept of straight line.
