Kant's Prolegomena
A Critical Guide

Explores the distinctive features of the Prolegomena, and casts Kant's critical philosophy in a new light.

Peter Thielke (Edited by)

9781108496476, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 October 2021

280 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.53 kg

The Prolegomena is often dismissed as Kant's failed attempt to popularize his philosophy, but as the essays collected here show, there is much to be gained from a careful study of the work. The essays explore the distinctive features of the Prolegomena, including Kant's discussion of philosophical methodology, his critical idealism, the nature of experience, his engagement with Hume, the nature of the self, the relation between geometry and physics, and what we cognize about God. Newly commissioned for this volume, the essays as a whole offer sophisticated and innovative interpretations of the Prolegomena, and cast Kant's critical philosophy in a new light.

Introduction Peter Thielke
1. Humor, Common Sense and the Future of Metaphysics in the Prolegomena Melissa Merritt
2. Is metaphysics possible? The argumentative structure of the Prolegomena Eric Watkins
3. From 'Facts' of Rational Cognition to Their Condition: Metaphysics and the Analytic Method Clinton Tolley
4. Transcendental idealism in the Prolegomena Lucy Allais
5. Judgments of Experience and the Grammar of Thought Peter Thielke
6. The Beach of Skepticism: Kant and Hume on the Practice of Philosophy and the Proper Bounds of Skepticism Karl Schafer
7. The Boundary of Pure Reason John Callanan
8. Kant's Argument Against Psychological Materialism in the Prolegomena Katharina Kraus
9. The Marriage of Metaphysics and Geometry in Kant's Prolegomena James Messina
10. Kant's 'as if' and Hume's 'remote analogy': deism and theism in Prolegomena §§57 and 58 Tim Jankowiak
11. Cognition by Analogy and the Possibility of Metaphysics Samantha Matherne.

Subject Areas: Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge [HPK], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]