Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Kant's Reform of Metaphysics
  • Cited by 23
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
August 2020
Print publication year:
2020
Online ISBN:
9781108897983
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108897983
Subjects:
Eighteenth-Century Philosophy, Philosophy
Information

Book description

Scholarly debates on the Critique of Pure Reason have largely been shaped by epistemological questions. Challenging this prevailing trend, Kant's Reform of Metaphysics is the first book-length study to interpret Kant's Critique in view of his efforts to turn Christian Wolff's highly influential metaphysics into a science. Karin de Boer situates Kant's pivotal work in the context of eighteenth-century German philosophy, traces the development of Kant's conception of critique, and offers fresh and in-depth analyses of key parts of the Critique of Pure Reason, including the Transcendental Deduction, the Schematism Chapter, the Appendix to the Transcendental Analytic, and the Architectonic. The book not only brings out the coherence of Kant's project, but also reconstructs the outline of the 'system of pure reason' for which the Critique was to pave the way, but that never saw the light.

Reviews

'De Boer has succeeded in writing a much-needed account of Kant's critical philosophy as the salvation - not the destruction - of metaphysics, correcting the epistemological focus of over a century of Kant scholarship. Her illuminating rereading in light of the metaphysics of Wolff and Baumgarten and her scrupulous reconstruction of the system of pure reason that Kant intended but never completed makes this book essential reading for anybody interested in Kant's philosophy.'

Paul Franks - Yale University

'De Boer shows in detail how Kant's Critical aim was to reform metaphysics as a system, not to reject it altogether. An especially valuable feature of her discussion is its focus on Kant's concern with Wolff's philosophy and the meta-metaphysical question of how metaphysics as a science of pure reason is possible at all.'

Karl Ameriks - University of Notre Dame

'By contextualizing Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason against the background of Wolffian philosophy, de Boer innovatively argues that Kant’s Critique should be interpreted as a reform (rather than simply a destruction) of traditional metaphysics. In the course of her overall argument, de Boer helps further our understanding of 18th-century figures like Wolff and Baumgarten, while also casting new light on aspects of Kant’s own thought. De Boer’s book should appeal both to scholars of Kant’s theoretical philosophy and historians of 18th-century philosophical thought more generally.'

Reed Winegar - Fordham University

'I highly recommend Kant’s Reform of Metaphysics. De Boer has written an exemplary work of contemporary Kant scholarship.'

J. Colin McQuilla Source: Journal of the History of Philosophy

‘[The] book offers a rich discussion of how Kant’s conception of metaphysics can be clarified by situating his thought in relation to the thought of his contemporaries and predecessors. Readers interested in any of the above topics will find much to engage with and each chapter serves as a useful starting point if one wants to better appreciate the historical context of Kant’s thinking on these specific issues.’

Michael Walschots Source: Kant Studien

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents
References

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.