Note on References

 

       Most of the nearly six hundred footnotes and nine appendices in this book can be briefly skimmed or even skipped by readers who are not interested in examining the finer points of Kant-interpretation. There would be far more footnotes, were it not for the fact that I normally include abbreviated references in the main text. (References are included in the footnotes when they are accompanied by nonessential material such as quotations or critical com­ments relating to technical points of interpretation.) Each reference begins with a letter-number abbreviation, usually consisting of the first two letters of the author’s surname and the last two num­bers of the publication year, as listed in the Bibliography. Where relevant, this ab­breviation is followed by a colon and the specific page number(s) from the text being cited. When a reference is to the same work as that of the reference immediately preced­ing in within the same paragraph of text, only the page numbers are cited.

       Part One of the Bibliography lists Kant’s works. The number designating each book is preceded by ‘Kt’. The logic governing the order of the Kt num­bering is explained in volume one of this series, Kant’s System of Perspectives (abbreviated KSP1) [see II.4 and III.4, especially Fig. II.1 and Fig. III.9]. The book that forms the logical starting-point of Kant’s System, his Critique of Pure Reason, is referred to as ‘Kt1’. Page numbers in references to Kt1 cite the second German edition (‘B’), except when preceded by ‘A’ to denote material unique to the first edition. Page numbers for Kant’s other works (aside from Kt1) correspond to the Berlin Academy edition, or ‘Akademie Ausgabe’ (listed as AA in Part Two of the Bibliogra­phy), and are followed in curved brackets by the pagination of the English trans­lation whenever that trans­lation does not specify the German pagination in its margins or if the translation used is not the one specified as standard in the Bib­liography. (The texts used for Kt35 and Kt70 are not included as such in AA, so only the translator’s pagination is given, in brackets.) For translations of works not written by Kant, only the English pagination is cited (without curved brackets). Any deviations from these norms are specified in the corre­sponding Bibliographical entry.

       Such textual references should simply be skipped over by anyone not interest­ed in following up on the nuances being addressed. To minimize the obtrusiveness of such references, I use these abbreviations:

 

    A         =   Appendix in this book or KSP1 (when prefixed to an upper case roman numeral); or, material unique to the first edition of Kt1, as mentioned above

   alt.       =   translation altered

    cf.        =   compare (when a comparison is not being made explicitly in the text, this usually indicates a reference to an opposing argument or opinion)

    Ch.      = Chapter

    e.a.      =   emphasis added

    e.g.      =   for example

    f           =   and following (pages)

    Fig.     =   Figure

    Figs.   =   Figures

    i.e.       =   that is (normally used to restate the point in other words)

    n          =   note

    q.a.      =   quoted above (i.e., earlier in the same section, unless specified otherwise)

    q.i.       =   quoted in

    s.a.       =   see also (usually indicates another text citing the same or similar view)

    s.e.         =   see especially (usually indicates the best of numerous relevant references)

    t.b.       =   translator’s brackets (indicates that comments added to a quote are not mine)

    viz.,  =   namely (used to specify the precise item(s) being referred to)

    ...         = text omitted from a quote where the last word quoted does not end a sentence

    ....        =   text omitted from a quote where the last word quoted does end a sentence

    .’          =   the quoted sentence ends at this point (i.e., punctuation after a quote always comes outside the close quote mark, unless the punctuation mark is part of the source text)

    [‘...’]    =   imbedded in a quote to designate text that is being quoted from the immediate context of the main quotation, usually having a direct grammatical connection

 

       Quotes reproduce the exact wording of the original, with the fol­low­ing two exceptions: (1) changes in translation are sometimes made, but only when the rationale is explained in the text (as with the term ‘perspective’, dis­cussed in KSP1:II.3) or when the abbreviation ‘alt.’ appears after the page number; and (2) italics and capitalizations are occasionally omitted if their origi­nal purpose is obscured by the brevity of the quote. When quoting from works in foreign languages for which no translation is cited in the Bibliography, translations are either my own, or else are taken from some other secondary source (which is then specified in brackets after the page number of the original reference).

       More important than the footnotes are the nine Appendices. They deal with topics that would significantly interrupt or belabour the main argument if included in the main text, so I have grouped them together at the end of the book, even though each corresponds most closely to the chapter that bears the same number. Readers who wish to be thorough may prefer to read each corresponding Appendix before going on to the next chapter. Appendix I, for example, consists of what would normally appear in the Preface and Acknowledgments. I relegated these to an appendix in order to encourage readers to enter as directly as possible into the arguments of the main text, consulting this and other appendices only as time and interest allows. Any readers who would prefer to read about the background of this book before reading the book itself should turn to Appendix I now.

  

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