Abstract
There have been considerable discussions recently concerning the nature and the various types of transcendental arguments. I do not propose to rehearse the results of these discussions but instead will confine myself to Kant’s own version or, rather: versions, of a transcendental approach. For as we shall see, the first thing to highlight—something that has not perhaps received enough notice—is that even when leaving out of account Kant’s moral philosophy, he himself already employs different types of transcendental arguments, with differences that may be characterized as ‘differences in comparative logical tightness’; leaving open for the moment the question whether this is a quantitative rather than a qualitative notion; or whether any kind of ‘deficiency’ attaches to one or the other of the arguments involved.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allison, H. E. (1983). Kant’s Transcendental Idealism. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Brittan, G. G., Jr. (1978). Kant’s Theory of Science. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press.
Buchdahl, G. (1951). ‘Science and logic: some thoughts on Newton’s second law of motion in classical mechanics’. British Journal for Philosophy of Science 2: 217–235.
—. (1963). ‘The relevance of Descartes’ philosophy for modern philosophy of science’. British Journal for Philosophy of Science 1: 228–249.
—. (1969a). Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science. Oxford: Basil Balckwell.
—. (1969b). ‘The Kantian’ dynamic of reason’ with special reference to the place of causality in Kant’s system’. In L. W. Beck (ed.), Kant Studies Today. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court. Pages 341–374.
—. (1970). ‘Gravity and intelligibility: Newton to Kant’. In R. E. Butts & J. W. Davis (eds.), The Methodological Heritage of Newton. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Pages 74–102.
—. (1971). ‘The conception of lawlikeness in Kant’s philosophy of science’. Synthese 23: 24–46. Reprinted in L. W. Beck (ed.), Kant’s Theory of Knowledge. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
—. (1980). ‘Neo-transcendental approaches towards scientific theory appraisal’. In D. H. Mellor (ed.), Science, Belief and Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages 1–22.
—. (1982). ‘Reduction-realization: a key to the structure of Kant’s thought’. In J. N. Mohanty & R. W. Shahan (eds.), Essays on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press. Pages 39–98.
—. (1984). ‘Zum Verhältnis von allgemeiner Metaphysik der Natur und besonderer metaphysischer Naturwissenschaft bei Kant’. In B. Tuschling (ed.), Probleme der “Kritik der reinen Vernunft”. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Pages 97–174.
—. (1985). ‘Metaphysical and internal realism: the relations between ontology and methodology in Kant’s philosophy of science’. In R. B. Marcus et al (eds.), Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science VII. New York: Elsevier North-Holland. Pages 623–641.
Ellington, J. (1970). Trans., Kant’s Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science. Indianapolis/New York: Bobbs-Merrill. Reissued in Immanuel Kant: Philosophy of Material Nature (1985). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Heimann, P. (1974). ‘Helmholtz and Kant: the metaphysical foundations of über die Erhaltung der Kraft’. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 5: 205–238.
Hesse, M. B. (1961). Forces and Fields. London: Nelson.
Hoppe, H. (1969). Kants Theorie der Physik. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.
Krausser, P. (1981). Kants Theorie der Erfahrung und Erfahrungswissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann.
Lakatos, I. (1970). ‘Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes’. In I. Lakatos & A. Musgrave (eds.), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages 91–196.
Rorty, R. (1979). ‘Transcendental arguments, self-reference, and pragmatism’. In P. Bieri et al (eds.), Transcendental Arguments and Science. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. Pages 77–104.
—. (1980). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. London: Basil Blackwell.
Smith, N. K. (1953). Trans, of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. London: Macmillan.
Tuschling, B. (1972). Metaphysische und Transzendentale Dynamik in Kants Opus Postumum. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Williams, L. P. (1973). ‘Naturphilosophie and scientific method’. In R. N. Giere & R. S. Westfall (eds.), Foundations of Scientific Method: the Nineteenth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Page 3–22.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 D. Reidel Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Buchdahl, G. (1986). Kant’s ‘Special Metaphysics’ and The Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science . In: Butts, R.E. (eds) Kant’s Philosophy of Physical Science. The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 33. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4730-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4730-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-277-2310-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4730-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive