Phil 2120 Kant Flashcards

What problem does Kant think Hume creates?

Hume separates certainty from knowledge of the world: relations of ideas are necessary but do not concern existence, while matters of fact conern the world but are not necessary. This threatens mathematics and natural science, especially causation. Kant’s project is to explain how necessary knowledge about experience is possible.

What is the difference between analytic and synthetic judgments for Kant?

An analytic judgment is one where the predicate is already contained in the subject, so it only explains or unpacks (analyzes) the concept. A synthetic judgment is one where the predicate adds something new to the subject (synthesis), so it expands knowledge.

What is the difference between a priori and a posteriori knowledge for Kant?

A priori knowledge is independent of experience and has a necessity and universality. A posteriori knowledge depends on experience and is contingent; it could have been otherwise.

what is a synthetic a priori judgment, and why is it important for Kant?

A synthetic a priori judgment expands knowledge while still being necessary and universal. It is synthetic because the predicate adds something new to the subject, and a priori because it is not learned from experience. Kant thinks mathematics and causation are synthetic a priori. This matters because it explains how we can have necessary knowledge about experience, answering Hume’s problem

What are sensibility and understanding for Kant?

Sensibility is the faculty through which objects are given to us in intuition, structured by space and time. Understanding is the faculty through which objects are thought, using concepts or categories like causation. Knowledge requires both: intuitions without concepts are blind, and concepts without intuitions are empty.

What are space and time for Kant?

Space and time are not learned from experience, they are forms of intuition that make experience possible. Space is the form of outer intuition that allows us to experience objects as outside one another. Time is the form of inner intuition that structures experience temporally. This helps explain mathematics. It is synthetic because it constructs intuition, and it is a priori because it is a pure form of intuition.

Why does Kant think causation is necessary even though we do not observe necessary connection?

Kant agrees with Hume that necessary connection is not derived from observation. But Kant argues that causation is a category of the understanding, meaning it is a pure concept that the mind brings to experience. Just as space and time structure sensibility, categories like causation structure understanding. Causation is necessary because it makes objective experience of events possible.

What is Kant’s distinction between phenomena and noumena?

Phenomena are things as they appear to us, structured by space/time and categories. They are the objects of possible experience and science. Noumena are things as they are in themselves, independently of our cognitive structure. We cannot know noumena because all knowledge is mediated by sensibility and understanding. Kant limits knowledge to appearances, not because the world is fake, but because knowledge requires the conditions of possible experience.

Why does Kant think traditional metaphysics oversteps reason?

Kant thinks the categories only legitimately apply to objects of possible experience. Traditional metaphysics tries to use concepts like substance and causation to know supersensible objects such as God, the soul, or the cosmos as a whole. These questions are meaningful because reason naturally raises them, but theoretical reason cannot answer them as knowledge of objects.

What is Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason about?

This concerns theoretical knowledge. It asks what we can know, especially how mathematics, natural science, and objective experience are possible. Kant argues that knowledge is possible because experience is structured by space, time, and categories, know knowledge is limited to phenomena, not noumena.

What is Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason about

This concerns morality and ethics. It asks what we ought to do. Kant does not reduce ethics to science, psychology, pleasure, or preference. Practical reason has its own domain because moral claims concern obligation, not merely what happens in nature.

What is Kant’s Critique of Judgment about?

This concerns evaluative judgment, especially beauty. It asks how judgments like “this is beautiful” work. Kant does not reduce beauty to mere private feeling or preference. Aesthetic judgment has a distinctive status, even though it is not scientific knowledge.

Why is Kant not a reductionist?

Kant does not reduce all human thought to one model, such as science, sensation, or psychology. He separates theoretical reason, practical reason, and judgment. Science, morality, and beauty have their own domain and legitimacy.