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...to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics have had a profound impact on almost every philosophical movement that followed him. This portion of the Encyclopedia entry will focus on his metaphysics and epistemology in one of his most important works, The Critique of Pure Reason. (All references will be to the A (1781) and B(1787) edition pages in Werner Pluhar's translation. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996.) A large part of Kant's work addresses the question "What can we know?" The answer, if it can be stated simply, is that our knowledge is constrained to mathematics and the science of the natural, empirical world. It is impossible, Kant argues, to extend knowledge to the supersensible realm of speculative metaphysics. The reason that knowledge has these constraints, Kant argues, is that the mind plays an active role in constituting the features of experience and limiting the mind's access to the empirical realm of space and time.
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Table of Contents (Clicking on the links below will take you to those parts of this article)
1. Historical Background to Kant
a. Empiricism
b. Rationalism
2. Kant's Answers to his Predecessors
3. Kant's Copernican Revolution: Mind Making Nature
4. Kant's Transcendental Idealism
5. Kant's Analytic of Principles
6. Kant's Dialectic
7. The Ideas of Reason
8. Kant's Ethics
a. Reason and Freedom
b. The Duality of the Human Situation
c. The Good Will
d. Duty
9. Kant's Criticisms of Utilitarianism
10. Sources
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1. Historical Background to Kant
In order to understand Kant's position, we must understand the philosophical background that he was reacting to. First, I will present a brief overview of his predecessor's positions with a brief statement of Kant's...
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