The Critical Path that Preceded the Critique of Pure Reason

Abstract

This article follows, generally speaking, the line of Reason and Knowledge in Kant, which focuses attention primarily on the broad unfolding of Kantian thought that took place before the Critique of Pure Reason. It examines the time often called the pre-critical period, though in reality it reveals the path that led to the greater systematization of Kant’s critical thought as it developed, logically, with advances and regressions. This systematization, of course, would emerge later in Critique of Pure Reason. However, understanding the foundations of Kantian philosophy exclusively on the basis of the period that begins with Critique would be tantamount to presenting his thought as if it had emerged from nothingness or, if I may be allowed the expression, as if it had fallen from a cherry tree. But it is well known that practically nothing of value is produced in this way. This work centers on some new, non-dogmatic assumptions concerning the use of theoretical reasoning in Kant that, from 1763 to 1770, critically reoriented —most noteworthily— his understanding of knowledge.