Monday, April 28, 2008

So How is Metaphysics Possible?

For Kant, the metaphysics of previous generations is worthless nonsense. But it is at the end of his Treatise that Kant answers the question that he started his book with. His answer is: "critique." Reason can't teach us regarding what lies beyond its grasp but it can help us categorize and classify the different concepts of our faculties of sensibility, understanding, and reason. Instead of looking outward, we should look inward.
For Kant, science is a body of synthetic a priori knowledge. Reason has not power to gain a priori knowledge of things that are outside our experience.ut
For Kant, all the metaphysics that has been conducted up till now has been completely useless.
But even then he says that we are drawn to metaphysics and that we can't leave it alone. He envisions that the previously dogmatic metaphysics should begin to advance the critical philosophy that he envisions with great vigor.

He also challenges anyone who disagrees with his dismissal of all dogmatic metaphysics and he asks them to give one example of metaphysical synthetic a priori judgment that can and has been proven with certainty. It is impossible for this type of judgment to be based on conjecture, because something that is categorized as an "a priori truths" is itself necessary, and thus can't be based on common sense, since we derive our common sense from experience. Common sense can't advance metaphysics as a science.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i dont think anyone can come up with such an example, but i dont think all metaphysics is useless. i think all sciences have some truth and use. i think we can use metaphysical theories with inductive reasoning. people have come up with some crazy ideas, then some useful ideas have derived from them. i dont know why people cant leave metaphysics alone, but people cant leave anything alone that seems unusual.

Safi's Blog said...

What would u mean by truth? Do you mean a truth in the sense that it is in par with reality or in the sense that it is some truth which exists within our minds?

Safi's Blog said...

I also think that metaphysics is quite possible because of the way in which Kant wants it to be. It is difficult, but nevertheless quite possible if we get rid of all the dogmatic claims made under its name.