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2 - The Logical Use of Reason and the Logical Maxim

from Part I - From Reason to Metaphysics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2018

Marcus Willaschek
Affiliation:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
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Summary

Chapter 2 discusses Kant’s account of the ‘logical use of reason,’ which consists in drawing ‘mediate inferences’ (e.g., syllogisms). It is guided by the ‘Logical Maxim,’ which requires us to search for the conditions of or conditioned cognitions until we arrive at unconditioned cognitions. Its aim is to transform our manifold cognitions about nature (both empirical and a priori) into a complete system of scientific knowledge and thus to achieve the ‘unity of reason.’ The chapter also places Kant’s conception of systematic cognition in the context of the Wolffian school and explains what it means for cognitions to be conditioned or unconditioned. Finally, the Logical Maxim is defended as a plausible expression of our rational striving for systematicity and completeness of knowledge.

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Kant on the Sources of Metaphysics
The Dialectic of Pure Reason
, pp. 46 - 70
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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