The Coherence Of Kant's Transcendental Idealism

by Senderowicz, Yaron M.

• ISBN13: 9781402025808
• ISBN10: 1402025807
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-30
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

This book presents a new interpretation of Kant's theory of knowledge that emphasizes the coherence and plausibility of his doctrine of transcendental idealism. Many interpreters believe that Kant's transcendental idealism is an incoherent theory. Some have attempted to respond to this charge. Yet, as the author demonstrates, the interpretations that seek to vindicate Kant's theory continue to be committed to some claims that evoke the charge of incoherence. One type of claim which does so is connected to the contradictory notion of subjective necessity. The other type of claim is related to the supposition that knowledge of the reality of appearances entails knowledge of the reality of things in themselves. The interpretation presented in this book does not involve any of these claims. Part One of this book presents an analysis of Kant's concept of a priori knowledge and of his response to skepticism about synthetic a priori knowledge that specifies the content of such knowledge without invoking the notion of subjective necessity. Part Two presents an account of the non-spatiotemporality of things in themselves that does not entail knowledge of the reality of things in themselves. Part Three presents a new interpretation of transcendental synthesis, the transcendental "I" and of the role of transcendental self-consciousness in synthetic a priori knowledge which emphasizes the originality of Kant's account of self-knowledge and subjectivity. The arguments presented in this book relate Kant's ideas to current debates in epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind in a way that underscores their invaluable relevance to present-day philosophical discourse.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
1. Introduction	1	(26)
1. Introduction	1	(1)
2. Strawson's Attack	2	(3)
3. Allison's Response	5	(4)
4. The Existence of Noumena and the Ideality of Space and Time	9	(6)
5. A Priori Knowledge and Skepticism	15	(1)
6. Transcendental Synthesis	16	(2)
7. Transcendental Synthesis and the Transcendental "I"	18	(9)
PART ONE. A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE
2. Kant's Concept of the A Priori	27	(28)
1. Introduction	27	(1)
2. Independence of Experience	28	(2)
3. The Apriority of Judgments	30	(4)
4. Apriority and Necessity	34	(3)
5. A Priori Judgments and Syntheticity	37	(5)
6. Problematic, Assertoric, and Apodictic Judgments	42	(1)
7. Intuitions, Syntheticity and Consciousness of Necessity	43	(3)
8. Logical Possibility, Real Possibility, Objective Reality	46	(3)
9. Transcendental Use, Empirical Use and the Categories	49	(4)
10. A Priori Knowledge and Transcendental Idealism	53	(2)
3. Skepticism and A Priori Knowledge	55	(26)
1. Introduction	55	(3)
2. Two Kinds of Skepticism	58	(3)
3. Subjective Origin and the "Question of Fact"	61	(1)
4. Apriority and Skepticism	62	(3)
5. Necessity and Subjective Necessity	65	(3)
6. Synthetic A Priori Knowledge and Knowledge of the External World	68	(2)
7. Quid Facti	70	(4)
8. The "Fact" of Pure Science	74	(7)
4. The Skeptical Problem	81	(16)
1. Givenness, A Priori Concepts and the Skeptical Problem	81	(5)
2. Subjective Necessity, Private Validity, Objective Validity	86	(11)
PART TWO: TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM
5. The Transcendental Ideality of Space and Time: The Problem	97	(14)
1. Introduction	97	(6)
2. From Epistemic Conditions to Transcendental Idealism	103	(4)
3. From De Re Necessity to Non-Spatiality	107	(4)
6. The Singularity and Immediacy of Intuitions	111	(12)
1. The Ambiguity of the Term "Intuition"	111	(4)
2. Singular Representations, Intuitions and the Object of Sensible Intuition	115	(3)
3. Sensible Intuition, Immediate Relation and Appearances	118	(5)
7. The Immediacy of Space and Time	123	(12)
1. Introduction	123	(1)
2. The Singularity of Space, the Apriority of Space and the Immediacy Thesis	123	(3)
3. Spatial Objects and Spatial Representations	126	(4)
4. Immediacy, Temporal Individuation and Spatial Individuation	130	(5)
8. The Non-Spatiotemporality of Things in Themselves	135	(23)
1. Introduction	135	(1)
2. An Outline of the Argument	135	(2)
3. Space and Time Qua Indispensable Conditions of Individuation	137	(2)
4. The Concept of a Thing In Itself	139	(5)
5. Substantia Phaenomenon	144	(4)
6. Spatiotemporal Locations and the Individual Essence of Things in Themselves	148	(4)
7. Spatiotemporal Predicates and Existence	152	(1)
8. The Theological Argument: Existence in Space and Time and Existence	153	(2)
9. Are Spatiotemporal Attributes Phenomenal Features of Things in Themselves?	155	(3)
9. Appearances, The Transcendental Object and the Noumenon	158	(19)
1. Introduction	158	(2)
2. The "Twofold Meaning" Theory	160	(2)
3. The Transcendental Object and the Noumenon	162	(6)
4. The Relational Character of Spatial Intuitions	168	(9)
PART THREE: TRANSCENDENTAL SYNTHESIS
10. The Concept of Transcendental Synthesis	177	(11)
1. Introduction	177	(2)
2. Intellectual Synthesis and Figurative Synthesis	179	(4)
3. Transcendental Synthesis: Content and Exhibition	183	(5)
11. The Transcendental Deduction and Transcendental Synthesis	188	(11)
1. The Features of Transcendental Apperception	188	(1)
2. Why is the Proposition "I Think Must be Able to Accompany all My Representations" Analytic?	189	(4)
3. The Shortcomings of the Main Argument of the Transcendental Deduction	193	(6)
12. The Inherent Ambiguity of "I think"	199	(13)
1. The Two Meanings of "I Think"	199	(2)
2. Self-identity and Reflective Self-Awareness of Identity	201	(1)
3. The Primacy of Self-Identity	202	(1)
4. The Primacy of Self-Ascription	203	(6)
5. "I Think" as "Something in General = x"	209	(3)
13. Self-Consciousness and Transcendental Synthesis	212	(30)
1. Introduction	212	(7)
2. The Bundle Theory and the Temporal Concept of Experience	219	(3)
3. The Bundle Theory and the Concept of an Intuition	222	(1)
4. The Identity of the Subject	223	(3)
5. The Second Paralogism	226	(2)
6. The Third Paralogism	228	(5)
7. Transcendental Idealism and Transcendental Apperception	233	(1)
8. Self-consciousness and Objective Judgments: Self-Positing	234	(8)
14. The Analogies of Experience	242	(28)
1. Givenness in Time and Being in Time	242	(1)
2. Intuitions and Temporal Determination	243	(4)
3. Time and Temporal Objects	247	(2)
4. Transcendental Idealism and the First Analogy	249	(4)
5. Introducing the Second and the Third Analogies	253	(2)
6. Strawson's "Non Sequitur" Argument	255	(3)
7. The Puzzle of the Second Analogy	258	(3)
8. Arbitrariness and Indeterminateness	261	(1)
9. Appearances and Acts of Apprehension	262	(1)
10. Intuitions, Self-Positing and Temporal Determination	263	(7)
15. The Refutation of Idealism	270	(11)
1. Introduction	270	(1)
2. The Problem of the Refutation	270	(2)
3. The Shortcomings of Kant's Official Argument	272	(2)
4. Transcendental Idealism and Skeptical Idealism	274	(7)
16. Conclusion	281	(4)
References	285	(8)
Index	293