NotesonKant's

ProlegomenatoAnyFutureMetaphysics
in44Points
Contact:Dr.JanGarrett
LastmodifiedApril4,2008
ThesenotesrefertothetranslationofKant'sProlegomenafoundinthe
ModernPhilosophyanthologyeditedbyWatkinsandAriewandpublishedby
HackettPublishingCompanyin1998.
1.Kantisinterestedinwhethermetaphysics,asascienceconsistingof
syntheticaprioripropositions,isatallpossible.(Marginalpagenumber255)
2.Metaphysicswouldconcerntopicssuchascausality,substance,the
universeasawhole,freewill,theimmortalsoul,andGod.
3.Itisnotexpressedinanalyticapriorijudgments,orjudgmentswhose
predicateiscontainedintheirsubjectandwhichcanbediscoveredwithout
theuseofconcreteexperience.(266)
4.Itisnotexpressedinsyntheticaposteriorijudgments,orjudgmentswhose
predicateaddssomethingtothesubjectandwhichareonlydiscovered
throughconcreteexperience.(266)
5.InKant'sview,Humedecisivelyshowedthatwehaveneithersynthetica
posteriori(empirical)noranalyticaprioriknowledgeofcausation.(257)
6.Kantassertsthatpuremathematicsisanexampleofsyntheticapriori
knowledge.Mathematicalknowledgecanproceedonlybyconstructionof
concepts,inamentallypurifiedfieldofspaceand/ortime.Withthe
geometricalproposition"thewholeisgreaterthanitspart,"thepredicateis
necessarilyjoinedtothesubjectandthemindbringsinapurifiedintuitionof
space.(283286)
7.Kant'stranscendentalphilosophy(atonepointcalled'criticalidealism')is
nothingbutthecompletesolutiontotheproblemregardingthepossibilityof
syntheticaprioripropositions.
8.Ahumanbeing's"intuition"cananticipatetheactualityofa[sensible]
object,becauseitsupplies"theformofsensibility,whichinmeassubject
precedesalltheactualimpressionsthroughwhichIamaffectedbyobjects."
(282)
9.Theformsofsensuousintuitiondonotenableustoknowthings[asthey
are]inthemselvesweknowthingsonlyastheyappeartous,asphenomena
(283)

10.Geometryisbasedupontheformofintuitionwecallspaceandarithmetic
isbasedupontheformofintuitionwecalltime.(283)
11.Thefacultyofaprioriintuitioncontainonlytheformofphenomena,not
theirmatterorsensuouscontent.(284)
12.Somejudgmentsrestdirectlyontheaprioriformsofintuition:that
(complete)spacehasthreedimensionsthatastraightlinecanbedrawnto
infinity(28485)
13.Kantnotesthatrighthandandlefthandgloves,eachthemirrorofthe
other,areincongruentbutindistinguishableexceptintermsofrightandleft,
whicharespatiallyrelativetoperceivers.Hetakesthisasproofthatspace
andtimearenotaspectsofthingsinthemselves.(28586)
14.Propositionsofgeometryarenotdescriptionsofthingsinthemselvesnor
isspace"outthere."Itisinusanddiscoveredthereaprioriweallconstitute
itinthesamewayforthisreasonweallareabletoarriveatthesame
geometricaltruths.(28788)
15.Kantunderstands"nature"astheexistenceofthings,sofarasitis
determinedaccordingtouniversallaws.Natureisknowableaposteriori,so
Kantcannotmeanbynature"whatthingsareinthemselves."(294)
16.Hesays"wepossessapurenaturalscience...apriori..."itconsists
ofpropositionsregardingnatureindependentofanyexperienceofnature
whatsoeverandthereforeindependentofparticularsensoryobservation.Its
lawsinclude:"substanceispermanent"and"everyeventisdeterminedbya
causeaccordingtoconstantlaws."(295)
17.Kantdistinguishesjudgmentsofperception(JP),judgmentsthatarevalid
tomebecausetheycorrespondtohowthingsareconnectedinmy
perception,fromjudgmentsofexperience(JE),whichresultwhenJP'sare
transformed:ThishappenswhenJP'sarebesubsumedunderthelawthat,
wheneveraneventisobserved,itisalwaysrelatedtosomeantecedent,
whichitfollowsaccordingtoauniversalrule.Inotherwords,JE'sareformed
whentotheJPcertainspecialconceptsareadded,e.g.,thatoftheuniversal
causeeffectconnection.(298ff.)
Example:JP:when[whatseemstobe]thesun[apparently]shineson[what
seemstobe]thestone,it[apparently]growswarm.JE:Thesun'sshiningon
thestonecausesittogrowwarm.
18.TheobjectivelyvalidcharacteroftheJEsignifiesitsnecessaryuniversal
validity,i.e.,itsobjectivevalidityforallsubjectsconstitutedasweare.(300
301)
19.Withouttheimpositionofconceptsoftheunderstandingallourobjectively
validsyntheticjudgmentswouldbeimpossible.(301)

20.Kantclaimshehasderivedacompletelistofthepureaprioriconceptsof
theunderstanding,withoutwhichexperiencewouldnotbepossible.(302)
21.Heworksfromalistofthegeneralattributesofjudgmentsandapplies
themtotheformsofintuitionthatcreatespaceandtime.Causalityisthe
reflectionofthehypotheticaljudgment(theconditional,orifthenproposition)
asappliedtospaceandtime.
22.Experienceconsistsofintuitions,whichbelongtosensibility,and
judgments,whichareentirelytheworkoftheunderstanding.(304)
23."Thepureconceptsoftheunderstanding"arethoseunderwhichall
perceptionsmustfirstbesubsumedbeforetheycanserveforjudgmentsof
experience,inwhichthesyntheticunityoftheperceptionsisrepresentedas
necessarilyanduniversallyvalid.(305306)
24.Thequestion"Howisapurenaturalsciencepossible?"issolved:The
categories,whichreflectthetableofjudgments,giveacompleteand
necessarysystemforouraprioriunderstandingofnature.(306)
25.Wecannowspeakobjectivelyofsubstanceandcauseeffect.Wemust
thinkofobjectswithinexperienceassubsumedundercategoriesof
substanceandcauseeffect,becausewithoutthemwedonothavecoherent
experience.Thesefeaturesofobjectsofexperienceareuniversallyvalid
becauseallhumansubjectsaresoconstitutedastoimposethemuponour
intuitions.(Sections25,27)
26.Wemustnotexpectthatthesecategoriespertaintothingsinthemselves
rathertheypertainonlytoobjectsofexperienceconstitutedbytheunionof
ourintuitionsandthecategories.
27.Wehavediscoveredthedefiniteboundswithinwhichtheconceptsof
substance,causeeffect,etc.legitimatelyapply.Applicationbeyondthese
bounds(i.e.,beyondexperience)leadstowhathecallstranscendentillusion
(31314)
28.Phenomenaare"thingsofsense,orappearances."Phenomenacanbe
known,i.e.,subsumedundertheaprioriconceptsofunderstanding.
Noumenaare"thingsoftheunderstanding,whichmakeupanintelligible
world."(314)
29.Aboutnoumena,weneitherknownorcanknowanythingdeterminate
whatever.(314)
30.Theunderstanding"transgress[es]withitsotherwiselegitimateconcepts
theboundsoftheiruse"whenthemindgoesbeyondexperiencetoexplorea
muchmoreextensiverealmfilledwithpurenoumena.
31.Transcendentalphilosophycanansweritshighestquestion:Howisnature
possible?Itdoessobyansweringtworelatedquestions:

32.Thefirst"Howisnaturepossibleingeneralinthematerialsense?"is
answeredthus:bymeansoftheconstitutionofoursensibility(318)
33.Thesecond"Howisnaturepossibleintheformalsense,asthetotalityof
rulesunderwhichallappearancesmustcomeinordertobethoughtas
connectedinanexperience?"isansweredthus:bymeansoftheconstitution
ofourunderstanding,accordingtowhichalltherepresentationsofsensibility
(percepts)arenecessarilyreferredtoaconsciousness,andbythepeculiar
wayinwhichwethink(theaprioriconcepts).(318)
34.Otherthanconceptsofnature,metaphysicshastodowithpureconcepts
ofreason,whichcanneverbegiveninanypossibleexperiencewhatsoever.
(328ff.)
35.Thisactivityofreasonariseswhenreasonbroodsovertheconceptsof
understanding,withoutapplyingthemtoempiricalappearances.
36.Thesepureconceptspertainto"transcendent"things:K.meanby
"transcendent"whatgoesbeyondeverypossibleexperience."Ideas[ofpure
reason]"arenecessaryconceptswhoseobjectscannotbegiveninany
experience.(328)
37.Theideasaredistinctfromthecategoriesbecausethelattercanbe
discoveredinexperience(becausewecontributethemtoit)andsoconfirmed
inexperience.
38.Psychologicalideareferstotheabsolutesubjectofparticularexperiences
projectedbeyondthepresuppositionofexperience,i.e.,lifethatis,the
psychologicalideaisthatoftheimmortalsoul.(333ff.)
39.Kantdeniesthattheimmortalityofthesoulcanbeproved.Permanenceis
afeatureofsubstance,andthisissomethingweknow.Butweknowthisonly
withinexperiencebecausewecontributethisnotionaprioritoappearancesin
ordertoconstituteexperience.Thedoctrineoftheimmortalityofthesoul
appliesthecategorybeyondexperiencetothesubjectasanoumenon.We
havenoknowledgeofthis.(33435)
40.Thecosmologicalideasare(1)whetherornottheuniverseisinfinitewith
respecttospaceandtime(2)whetherornotmaterialthingsareinfinitely
divisible(3)whetherornotthereare"causesthroughfreedom"and(4)
whetherornotthereisanecessarybeingintheseriesofcauses.(33839)
41.Atheologicalideaistheideaof"amostperfectfirstbeing,"i.e.,God.
(348)
42.AccordingtoKant,thereisapositionmoreabsurdthanclaimingtoknow
somethingaboutnoumena:thatistodenytheexistenceofthingsin
themselvesanddeclaringour[human]experiencetobetheonlypossibleway
ofknowingthings.(35051)

43.Wearenotatlibertytoabstainfrominquiringintowhatthingsin
themselvesmaybe,eventhoughwecannotobtainadefinitenotionofwhat
thingsinthemselvesare.(351)
44.We"thinkanimmaterialbeing,aworldofunderstandingandaSupreme
Being"eventhoughwecanneverknowthemastheyareinthemselves
becauseinthemonly,asthingsinthemselves,doesreasonfindcompletion
andsatisfaction.(35455)