Overview

Kant conceived of 'critique' as a kind of winnowing exercise, one whose aim was to separate the wheat of good metaphysics from the chaff of bad. But he used a less familiar metaphor to make this point, namely, that of a 'fiery test of critique'. This is not a medieval ordeal or trial by fire, but rather a metallurgical assay, a procedure in which ore samples are tested for their precious-metal content. Critique therefore has a positive, investigatory side: it seeks not merely to eliminate bad, 'dogmatic' metaphysics but also to discover what valuable residue traditional speculative metaphysics might contain. In this comprehensive study of the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, Proops argues that Kant uncovered two nuggets of value: the indirect proof of Transcendental Idealism afforded by the resolution of the Antinomies, and a defence of theoretically grounded 'doctrinal beliefs' in a wise and great originator, on the one hand, and in an afterlife, on the other. This examination of critique engages with Kant's views on a number of central problems in philosophy and meta-philosophy: the explanation of the enduring human impulse towards metaphysics, the correct philosophical method, the limits of self-knowledge, the possibility of human freedom, the resolution of metaphysical paradox ('Antinomy'), the justification of faith, the nature of scepticism, and the role of 'as if ' reasoning in natural science.

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9780198978107

Table of Contents

Reviews

A masterpiece * Camilla Serck-Hansson, European Journal of Philosophy * Contemporary Anglophone Kant scholarship at its best * Christopher Benzenberg and Andrew Chignell, The Philosophical Review * A true landmark for future scholarship on Kant's Dialectic and, indeed, on Kant's systematic critical philosophy as a whole * Markus Kohl, Mind * This is an extremely detailed analysis of Immanuel Kant's arguments from The Critique of Pure Reason (1781; revised 1787). The book's complexity notwithstanding, much can be said in praise of the book's form and method. In addition to the basics-clear organization and indexing-the book includes frequent detailed references and comparisons between various commentators on many of Kant's arguments, from his time to the present, and clear explanations of why Proops (Univ. of Texas, Austin) agrees or disagrees with each, and why. * S. E. Forschler, CHOICE * Proops's book may be the most thorough and reliable single-volume guide, in any language, to this stretch of the critique * Aaron Wells, The Philosophical Quarterly * as far as I am aware, [this is] the most comprehensive explanation of the Dialectic currently available * Rosalind Chapman, Kantian Review * The Fiery Test of Critique implicitly sets itself an ambitious twofold task. * Stephen Howard, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 61.3 *

Author Information

Ian Proops is Professor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin. He works on Kant and on the history of analytic philosophy.

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