The Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
The question
What is the question Kant is trying to answer when he asks how synthetic judgements a priori are possible?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does it matter so much for mathematics, science and metaphysics?
- Could you put the question in your own words?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
What is the question Kant is trying to answer when he asks how synthetic judgements a priori are possible?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does it matter so much for mathematics, science and metaphysics?
- Could you put the question in your own words?
What does Kant mean by his Copernican revolution, the idea that objects must conform to our knowledge rather than the other way round?
Keep the conversation going
- Does that make the world less real, or only change what we mean by real?
- How did you respond to the idea when you first met it?
Why does Kant argue that space and time are forms of our intuition rather than features of things in themselves?
Keep the conversation going
- What follows if he is right?
- Did his arguments convince you?
What role do the categories, such as cause and substance, play in turning our sensations into experience?
Keep the conversation going
- How does Kant's answer respond to Hume's doubts about cause and effect?
- Which category seems most essential to how you see the world?
What does Kant mean by the thing in itself, and why can we never know it?
Keep the conversation going
- Is it a necessary idea or a loose thread in his system?
- How does the distinction between appearances and things in themselves change what we can claim to know?
What happens, according to Kant, when reason tries to answer questions like whether the world had a beginning in time?
Keep the conversation going
- Why can both sides of these arguments be proved?
- What does that tell us about the limits of reason?
Why does Kant say he had to deny knowledge in order to make room for faith?
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- What happens to the traditional proofs of God's existence in his hands?
- How does his treatment of freedom prepare the way for his later moral philosophy?
What was the hardest part of reading the Critique, and what helped you through it?
Keep the conversation going
- Why do you think it has been so influential despite its difficulty?
- What, if anything, has it changed in the way you think about knowledge?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.