How is Nature Possible?: Kant's Project in the First Critique

How is Nature Possible?: Kant's Project in the First Critique presents a clear and systematic appraisal of what is perhaps the most difficult treatise in the philosophical canon. Daniel N. Robinson situates Kant's undertaking in the First Critique within the context of the history of philosophy and as a response to the challenges of scepticism.   Kant's central task in the First Critique is to tie his metaphysical analysis to the very possibility of nature itself. Where others assumed the validity or the weakness of perception and reason, Kant presents a critical appraisal of both, thereby establishing the very limits of sense and reason as instruments of discovery. Ideal for students at all levels, this fascinating introduction clarifies the aims and significance of Kant's project, locates its place within the history of philosophy and identifies the strengths and weaknesses reasonably attributed to this most significant contribution to the history of philosophical reflection.

Table of Contents:
Preface \ 1. Preliminaries \ 2. The Larger Context: Germany and the Enlightenment \ 3. The Possibility of Metaphysics \ 4. The Pure Intuitions and the Analogies of Experience \ 5. Idealisms and their Refutation \ 6. Concepts \ 7. Judgment \ 8. Whose Experience? The Self and Outer Sense \ 9. The Discipline of Reason: Paralogisms, Antinomies, and Freedom \ Notes \ Bibliography \ Index

About the Author :
Daniel N. Robinson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, USA.

Review :
In this insightful, lucid, and open-minded account, Daniel Robinson puts Kant's project into its intellectual and scientific context, engagingly bringing out the ambitious aims Kant set for himself and how he sought to achieve them. This is a highly instructive and valuable introduction to the First Critique. Author Daniel Robinson received the 2011 Joseph B. Gittler Award from the American Psychological Association. The award 'recognizes the most scholarly contributions to the philosophical foundations of psychological knowledge' and carries an honorarium of $10,000. Previous recipients include Jerome Bruner and Daniel Kahneman. How is Nature Possible? Kant's Project in the First Critique is a well-researched, introductory-level commentary on one of the more difficult books in the history of philosophy. In his distinguished career, [Robinson] has contributed to the history of ideas, science and modern philosophy, has undertaken extensive research in experimental psychology and has been an avid supporter of Thomas Reid’s philosophy…This peculiar combination of interests informs this book’s aim to read the Critique as accounting for the possibility of scientific knowledge and safeguarding it against the destructive tendencies of scepticism and the over-confident proofs of the rationalists... He goes a long way toward justifying Kant’s metaphysics of science as a viable and coherent project against Kant’s predecessors, especially Descartes, Locke and Hume, and against some of his recent critics, be they Quine, Strawson or Stroud... The book will be most useful to new, but also experienced students of Kant