Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary and concepts discussed in the introductory portion of Kant's 'Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics', focusing on metaphysics and its foundational questions.

Prolegomena

Preliminary remarks or introductory statements, especially in philosophical contexts, intended to prepare for a deeper exploration of a subject.

Metaphysics

A branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, including concepts like existence, reality, causality, and the nature of objects.

Cognition

The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

Synthetic Judgment

A judgment that adds to our knowledge and is not contained in the concept of the subject; it extends knowledge beyond mere analysis.

Analytic Judgment

A judgment that is inherently true by virtue of its definitions and does not add new knowledge; its predicate is already contained in the subject.

A priori

Knowledge or justification that is independent of experience; it refers to what can be known or justified without empirical evidence.

A posteriori

Knowledge or justification that depends on empirical evidence; it is knowledge derived from experience.

Principle of Contradiction

A fundamental principle stating that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time.

Cause and Effect

A fundamental concept in metaphysics that describes the relationship between events where one event is understood to be the result of another.

Critical Philosophy

A philosophical approach that emphasizes the critique of reason and the examination of its limits and capabilities, as developed by Immanuel Kant.