Abstract of
KANT'S SYSTEM OF PERSPECTIVES
by Stephen Palmquist
by Stephen Palmquist (stevepq@hkbu.edu.hk)
Kant's System of Perspectives: An architectonic interpretation of the Critical philosophy (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, April 1993), 478pp. 30 diagrams. 14 tables. Glossary of Technical Terms. Index.
Part One examines the general structure of Kant's philosophical System. Chapter I introduces two essential interpretive guidelines: Kant's philosophy cannot be properly interpreted without understanding (1) its systematic character and (2) its emphasis on models and metaphors. Chapter II defines the term 'perspective' as the 'context of' or 'way of considering' a question or set of questions, demonstrates the ubiquity of this notion in Kant's writings, and establishes its crucial role as a key principle of the Critical System. Three 'levels of perspectives' are proposed: (1) a set of four fundamental perspectives which operate in each Critique; (2) a set of three general perspectives, or 'standpoints', each corresponding to one Critique; and (3) the overall Critical Perspective, upon which the entire System is based. Chapter III then uses various hints from Kant to determine the nature of the architectonic pattern which gives Kant's System its 'Copernican' character. Examining his System from this Logical Perspective provides a rationale for Kant's habit of making so many threefold and fourfold distinctions, such as those which constitute his table of twelve categories.
Part Two applies the guidelines established in Part One to investigate the epistemological underpinnings of Kant's System. Chapter IV begins by defining Kant's most general epistemological terms, and proceeds to show how they work together to form the four perspectives which function in each of his systems. The transcendental, logical, empirical, and hypothetical perspectives are regarded as establishing synthetic a priori, analytic a priori, synthetic a posteriori, and analytic a posteriori knowledge, respectively. Chapter V then deals with the foremost 'metacritical' question: what is Kant's justification for assuming the 'thing in itself' as the radically unknowable starting point of his System, and so for engaging in transcendental reflection? Kant regards 'faith' as not only a moral tool for the systematic justification of the metaphysical ideas of God, freedom, and immortality, but also a theoretical tool which is required to open the door to Critical systematization. Finally, the epistemological considerations of Part Two come to a head in Chapter VI, which applies the principle of perspective to Kant's theory of the 'object' of knowledge, attempting to clarify two ambiguous sets of terms which would otherwise stand in the way of a clear understanding of the first Critique, and so also of his entire System. The terms 'thing in itself', 'transcendental object', and 'appearance' denote the object as viewed from the transcendental perspective, while 'positive noumenon', 'negative noumenon', and 'phenomenon' denote the same object viewed from the empirical perspective.
Part Three uses the formal principles established in Parts One and Two to construct a detailed interpretation of the 'elements' of the Critical System itself. Chapter VII goes into considerable detail in interpreting the Doctrine of Elements in the first Critique as a system based on the theoretical standpoint. Chapters VIII and IX then apply the same principles to interpret, respectively, the parallel sections of the second and third Critiques. The standpoint assumed in each of these chapters shifts from the theoretical in Chapter VII to the practical in Chapter VIII, and to the judicial in Chapter IX. But in each standpoint the system is a progressive argument consisting of four stages, each of which contains three steps, and thus follows the pattern established in Chapter III.
Part Four offers a glimpse of the metaphysical implications of Kant's System, in light of the foundations established by his Critical philosophy. The ideas of God, freedom, and immortality correspond, respectively, to three areas of metaphysical inquiry which are of utmost importance to philosophers: religion, science, and politics. Each chapter in this concluding part summarizes a planned sequel to the present book, where the arguments outlined here will be presented in their full form. Chapter X explains how Kant's entire System has a theological orientation, revolving as it does around the three basically theological ideas. A perspectival interpretation of Kant reveals that, in spite of the limitations it places on our knowledge of God, his Critical philosophy lays a non-reductionist foundation for a fundamentally affirmative approach to theology, religion, and religious experience. Chapter XI explains how Kant's Critical philosophy was not intended to serve as the philosophical foundation for any particular version of natural science, but for all possible versions. Thus, the overthrow in the past two hundred years of the traditional systems of mathematics, logic, physics, and scientific methodology does not imply the falsity of Kant's philosophy of science, even though he sometimes took for granted in his arguments the truth of the now defunct systems. On the contrary, the perspectival focus of his own System, with its emphasis on both freedom and natural causality, seems to have been a major contributing factor in the shift in world view which made possible these very changes. Chapter XII concludes this study by suggesting that all Kant's diverse philosophical reflections converge on a specific view of the nature and purpose of human life in history, and of how our common destiny (as guided by the idea of immortality) can be realized through the implementation of a properly understood Critical political system.
