Kant's antinomies

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The antinomies, from the Critique of Pure Reason , are contradictions which Immanuel Kant argued follow necessarily from our attempts to cognize the nature of transcendent reality by means of pure reason.

Contents

Kant thought that some certain antinomies of his (God and Freedom) could be resolved as "Postulates of Practical Reason". He used them to describe the equally rational-but-contradictory results of applying the universe of pure thought to the categories or criteria, i.e. applying reason proper to the universe of sensible perception or experience (phenomena). Empirical reason cannot here play the role of establishing rational truths because it goes beyond possible experience and is applied to the sphere of that which transcends it.

Overview

Kant's antinomies are four: two "mathematical" and two "dynamical". They are connected with (1) the limitation of the universe in respect of space and time, (2) the theory that the whole consists of indivisible atoms (whereas, in fact, none such exist), (3) the problem of free will in relation to universal causality, and (4) the existence of a necessary being. [1]

The first two antinomies are dubbed "mathematical" antinomies, presumably because in each case we are concerned with the relation between what are alleged to be sensible objects (either the world itself, or objects in it) and space and time. The second two are dubbed "dynamical" antinomies, presumably because the proponents of the thesis are not committing themselves solely to claims about spatio-temporal objects. [2] [3] [4]

The mathematical antinomies

The first antinomy (of space and time)

The second antinomy (of atomism)

The dynamical antinomies

The third antinomy (of spontaneity and causal determinism)

The fourth antinomy (of necessary being or not)

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References

  1. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), Vol. 2.
  2. S. Al-Azm, The Origins of Kant's Argument in the Antinomies, Oxford University Press 1972.
  3. M. Grier (2001). Kant's Doctrine of Transcendental Illusion. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780511498145.
  4. M. Grier, "The Logic of Illusion and the Antinomies," in Bird (ed.), A Companion to Kant, Blackwell, Oxford 2006, pp. 192-207.