Kant and the Subject of Critique

by Goldman, Avery

• ISBN13: 9780253223661
• ISBN10: 0253223660
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-02
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

Immanuel Kant is strict about the limits of self-knowledge: our inner sense gives us only appearances, never the reality, of ourselves. Kant may seem to begin his inquiries with an uncritical conception of cognitive limits, but in Kant and the Subject of Critique, Avery Goldman argues that, even for Kant, a reflective act must take place before any judgment occurs. Building on Kant's metaphysics, which uses the soul, the world, and God as regulative principles, Goldman demonstrates how Kant can open doors to reflection, analysis, language, sensibility, and understanding. By establishing a regulative self, Goldman offers a way to bring unity to the subject through Kant's seemingly circular reasoning, allowing for critique and, ultimately, knowledge.

Author Biography

Immanuel Kant may seem to begin his inquiries into the nature of the self with an uncritical conception of cognitive limits, but in Kant and the Subject of Critique, Avery Goldman argues that there is an inquiry into these very limits in Kant's own writings. Goldman focuses on Kant's introduction of an initial reflective act or "transcendental reflection" in the Critique of Pure Reason, and as he ranges widely through Kant's work as a whole, he brings forward an interpretation of this orienting reflection. Unlike Heidegger who set this system aside, Goldman not only uncovers the circularity of the Kantian system, but shows how it is fundamental to transcendental philosophy, thus offering an original way to conceive of the self or subject of Kantian critique. Avery Goldman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at DePaul University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: The Circularity of Critique	p. 1
The Ideas of Reason	p. 12
The Boundary of Phenomena and Noumena	p. 35
The Designation of the Region of Experience in the Critique of Pure Reason	p. 58
Transcendental Reflection: Interpreting the Amphiboly via  76 of the Critique of Judgment	p. 85
The Paralogisms of Pure Reason: In Search of a Regulative Principle for Transcendental Reflection	p. 124
Transcendental Method: The Orientation of Critique	p. 158
Notes	p. 187
Bibliography	p. 235
Index	p. 245
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