Kant, Transcendental Strategies, and Philosophical Antinomies

• Applicant: Dr. Gabriele Gava
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy ; Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 258671124

Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason introduced important methodological innovations into the discipline of philosophy. The continued use of terms like Copernican revolution, critique, and transcendental argument in contemporary philosophy testifies to the significance of these innovations. Yet when we consider the variety of interpretations of the first Critiques method at offer both in the history of philosophy and in current Kant research, it is difficult to maintain a coherent and unitary picture. As a result, the task of identifying precisely why Kants approach is important or interesting has yet to be accomplished. The project thus aims to develop a detailed interpretation of Kants method in the Critique of Pure Reason. This interpretation will be essential to evaluating the goals and results of Kants work. Moreover, it will allow for the development of a genuinely novel approach to understanding the nature of transcendental arguments. On this approach, transcendental arguments are not anti-sceptical arguments but rather complex strategies for resolving an antinomic situation in knowledge. The project will provide: (a) a detailed analysis of Kants method in the Critique of Pure Reason, which takes into consideration both Kants account of the method of philosophy in the Transcendental Doctrine of Method and the structure of his arguments in the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements; (b) a critical examination of the relationship between Kants method and those of his rationalist predecessors, and of Christian Wolff and Johann Heinrich Lambert in particular; (c) an assessment of the different ways in which Kants method has been interpreted in the history of philosophy; and (d) an estimation of how a renewed interpretation of the method of the Critique of Pure Reason can offer tools that are relevant to various current philosophical debates.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants