Nicholas F. Stang - Kant's Modal Metaphysics read online ebook TXT, PDF, EPUB
9780198712626 English 0198712626 Nicholas F. Stang presents a study of Kant's theory of possibility, starting from the so-called 'precritical' period of the 1750s and 1760s, through the Critical system of philosophy inaugurated by the Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. He discusses Kant's confrontation with the ontological theory of all possible beings shared by many of his rationalist predecessors, Kant's positive theory of possibility in the 1760s, and his distinctively Critical theory of possibility in the Critique. Stang argues that the key to understanding both the change, and the continuity, between Kant's precritical and his Critical theory of possibility is that he comes to believe that the ontological question about possibility (what do all possible beings have in common?) must be transformed into a question in 'transcendental philosophy': how do we represent possible objects a priori? Kant's Modal Metaphysics explores Kant's theory of possibility before he reoriented his theory around that question, why he believed that reorientation was necessary, what this transcendental question means, and his own answer to it. Possibility becomes one of the three 'categories of modality' in the Critique, along with actuality/existence and necessity. Consequently, Stang investigates Kant's views about what distinguishes actuality from mere possibility, his theory of the closely related notion of existence, and his theory of necessity, including, crucially, his theory of necessary existence., What is possible and why? What is the difference between the merely possible and the actual? In Kants Modal Metaphysics Nicholas Stang examines Kants lifelong engagement with these questions and their role in his philosophical development. This is the first book to trace Kants theory of possibility all theway from the so-called pre-Critical writings of the 1750s and 1760s to the Critical system of philosophy inaugurated by the Critique of PureReason in 1781. Stang argues that the key to understanding both the change and the continuity between Kants pre-Critical and Critical theory of possibility is his transformation of the ontological question aboutpossibility-what is it for a being to be possible?-into a question in transcendental philosophy-what is it to represent an object as possible?
9780198712626 English 0198712626 Nicholas F. Stang presents a study of Kant's theory of possibility, starting from the so-called 'precritical' period of the 1750s and 1760s, through the Critical system of philosophy inaugurated by the Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. He discusses Kant's confrontation with the ontological theory of all possible beings shared by many of his rationalist predecessors, Kant's positive theory of possibility in the 1760s, and his distinctively Critical theory of possibility in the Critique. Stang argues that the key to understanding both the change, and the continuity, between Kant's precritical and his Critical theory of possibility is that he comes to believe that the ontological question about possibility (what do all possible beings have in common?) must be transformed into a question in 'transcendental philosophy': how do we represent possible objects a priori? Kant's Modal Metaphysics explores Kant's theory of possibility before he reoriented his theory around that question, why he believed that reorientation was necessary, what this transcendental question means, and his own answer to it. Possibility becomes one of the three 'categories of modality' in the Critique, along with actuality/existence and necessity. Consequently, Stang investigates Kant's views about what distinguishes actuality from mere possibility, his theory of the closely related notion of existence, and his theory of necessity, including, crucially, his theory of necessary existence., What is possible and why? What is the difference between the merely possible and the actual? In Kants Modal Metaphysics Nicholas Stang examines Kants lifelong engagement with these questions and their role in his philosophical development. This is the first book to trace Kants theory of possibility all theway from the so-called pre-Critical writings of the 1750s and 1760s to the Critical system of philosophy inaugurated by the Critique of PureReason in 1781. Stang argues that the key to understanding both the change and the continuity between Kants pre-Critical and Critical theory of possibility is his transformation of the ontological question aboutpossibility-what is it for a being to be possible?-into a question in transcendental philosophy-what is it to represent an object as possible?