Kant's Theory of Knowledge   By: Harold Arthur Prichard

Transcriber's note:

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KANT'S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

by

H. A. PRICHARD

Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford

Oxford At the Clarendon Press 1909

Henry Frowde, M.A. Publisher to the University of Oxford London, Edinburgh, New York Toronto and Melbourne

PREFACE

This book is an attempt to think out the nature and tenability of Kant's Transcendental Idealism, an attempt animated by the conviction that even the elucidation of Kant's meaning, apart from any criticism, is impossible without a discussion on their own merits of the main issues which he raises.

My obligations are many and great: to Caird's Critical Philosophy of Kant and to the translations of Meiklejohn, Max Müller, and Professor Mahaffy; to Mr. J. A. Smith, Fellow of Balliol College, and to Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, Fellow of New College, for what I have learned from them in discussion; to Mr. A. J. Jenkinson, Fellow of Brasenose College, for reading and commenting on the first half of the MS.; to Mr. H. H. Joachim, Fellow of Merton College, for making many important suggestions, especially with regard to matters of translation; to Mr. Joseph, for reading the whole of the proofs and for making many valuable corrections; and, above all, to my wife for constant and unfailing help throughout, and to Professor Cook Wilson, to have been whose pupil I count the greatest of philosophical good fortunes. Some years ago it was my privilege to be a member of a class with which Professor Cook Wilson read a portion of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason , and subsequently I have had the advantage of discussing with him several of the more important passages. I am especially indebted to him in my discussion of the following topics: the distinction between the Sensibility and the Understanding (pp. 27 31, 146 9, 162 6), the term 'form of perception' (pp. 37, 40, 133 fin. 135), the Metaphysical Exposition of Space (pp. 41 8), Inner Sense (Ch. V, and pp. 138 9), the Metaphysical Deduction of the Categories (pp. 149 53), Kant's account of 'the reference of representations to an object' (pp. 178 86), an implication of perspective (p. 90), the impossibility of a 'theory' of knowledge (p. 245), and the points considered, pp. 200 med. 202 med., 214 med. 215 med., and 218. The views expressed in the pages referred to originated from Professor Cook Wilson, though it must not be assumed that he would accept them in the form in which they are there stated.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE THE PROBLEM OF THE Critique 1

CHAPTER II THE SENSIBILITY AND THE UNDERSTANDING 27

CHAPTER III SPACE 36

CHAPTER IV PHENOMENA AND THINGS IN THEMSELVES 71

NOTE THE FIRST ANTINOMY 101

CHAPTER V TIME AND INNER SENSE 103

CHAPTER VI KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY 115

CHAPTER VII THE METAPHYSICAL DEDUCTION OF THE CATEGORIES 140

CHAPTER VIII THE TRANSCENDENTAL DEDUCTION OF THE CATEGORIES 161

CHAPTER IX GENERAL CRITICISM OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL DEDUCTION OF THE CATEGORIES 214

CHAPTER X THE SCHEMATISM OF THE CATEGORIES 246

CHAPTER XI THE MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES 260

CHAPTER XII THE ANALOGIES OF EXPERIENCE 268

CHAPTER XIII THE POSTULATES OF EMPIRICAL THOUGHT 308

NOTE THE REFUTATION OF IDEALISM 319

REFERENCES