Chapter 8 - Kant’s Projected System of Pure Reason

Summary

Chapter 8 is devoted to the positive goal of Kant’s reform of the theoretical part of metaphysics, namely, the system of pure reason he intended to elaborate on the basis of the propaedeutic investigation carried out in the Critique of Pure Reason. Drawing on the Architectonic, the Transcendental Dialectic, the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, Kant’s lectures on metaphysics, and other texts, the chapter maintains that the Critique paves the way not only for a reformed version of general metaphysics or ontology but also for a reformed version of special metaphysics, namely, rational physics, rational psychology, rational cosmology, and rational theology. The chapter argues that the Critique does not preclude the possibility of a comprehensive account of the purely intellectual determinations of the ideas of reason themselves and, hence, is much less detrimental to former special metaphysics than is generally assumed. Thus, it seeks to bring out the common ground of Kant’s projected system and the metaphysical systems put forward by Wolff and Baumgarten. The chapter concludes by arguing that Kant’s later accounts of his intentions accord with his original plan.