What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How does knowledge differ from belief? Can an exploration of basic philosophical questions, such as How do we know what we know? and What are the limits of our understanding? inform our thinking not just on intellectual issues, but on broader cultural challenges as well?

​

Immanuel Kant - Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

Five Thursday Afternoons, September 18 - November 13

(New Time: 12:00-1:30PM Pacific)

 

In Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (published in 1783), Immanuel Kant explores the possibility of metaphysics as a science by examining the limits and structure of human knowledge, particularly through the lens of synthetic a priori knowledge which forms the basis for mathematics and pure natural science. He argues that while our minds structure experience through inherent categories such as causality and space-time, our understanding is limited to phenomena (things as they appear to us) and cannot grasp noumena (things-in-themselves). Consequently, metaphysics should not attempt to know the transcendent objects of pure reason, but rather act as a critique, investigating how our cognitive faculties enable knowledge and experience in the first place. 

 

The text we are using is the James Ellington translation, published by Hackett

ISBN: 978-0872205932​​

​

September 18 - Letter to Marcus Herz (pp. 117-122) and Preface (pp. 1-8) 

October 2 - Preamble (pp. 9-22) and First Part (pp. 23-34)

October 16 - Second Part (pp. 35-63)

October 30 - Third Part (pp. 64-84)

November 13 - Conclusion (pp. 85-98), Solution (pp. 99-104) and Appendix (pp. 105-116)

​​

Join us as we discuss this foundational work from Kant. This series continues a broader series on epistemology. All are welcome. Please join us even if this will be your first seminar in the series.