Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Immanuel Kant (2.0)
This book has been recommended to read in order to
understand Kant’s philosophies. He wrote it as a supplement or ‘Cliff notes’ to
his ‘Critique of Pure Reason’, which is considered by many to be
undecipherable. Unfortunately this is not much easier, though luckily much
shorter. He starts by saying that the majority of readers are not smart enough
to understand (or critique, a particular sticky point with him) the material to
follow, which is not exactly a confidence builder. He proceeds to attempt to
answer 4 major questions: 1. How is pure math possible? 2. How is natural
science possible? 3. How is metaphysics in general possible? 4. How is metaphysics
as a science possible? I am proud to say I read the whole book, and had a
reasonably good grasp on questions 1 and 2. By the time I got to 3 and 4, it
was much muddier. I found his repeated use of a few archaic words and lack of
examples did not help my understanding. It did help to read some of the
passages aloud to someone and discuss. While I’m glad I read it, I can’t give
this a high rating, as there are so few people who may actually enjoy reading
it. I also believe that it isn’t the best book to read to understand Kant, as
it doesn’t fully explain his points, more that he uses this Prolegomena to
back-up criticisms that came later. This is one of the few times I would
suggest if one wants to learn more, to read the Spark notes or Cliff notes of
his ‘Critique of Reason’.
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