The Unity of Reason: Rereading Kant - Hardcover

Neiman, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195067681 ISBN 13: 9780195067682

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1994

Synopsis

The Unity of Reason is the first major study of Kant's account of reason. It argues that Kant's wide-ranging interests and goals can only be understood by redirecting attention from epistemological questions of his work to those concerning the nature of reason. Rather than accepting a notion of reason given by his predecessors, a fundamental aim of Kant's philosophy is to reconceive the nature of reason. This enables us to understand Kant's insistence on the unity of theoretical and practical reason as well as his claim that his metaphysics was driven by practical and political ends. Neiman begins by discussing the historical roots of Kant's conception of reason, and by showing Kant's solution to problems which earlier conceptions left unresolved. Kant's notion of reason itself is examined through a discussion of all the activities Kant attributes to reason. In separate chapters discussing the role of reason in science, morality, religion, and philosophy, Neiman explores Kant's distinctions between reason and knowledge, and his difficult account of the regulative principles of reason. Through examination of these principles in Kant's major and minor writings, The Unity of Reason provides a fundamentally new perspective on Kant's entire work.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This book presents a very important general account of Kant's philosophy. With its powerful challenge--both philosophical and exegetical--to the epistemologically-focused mainstream of Kant scholarship, this book will deservedly be central to future discussion of the meaning and intent of the critical enterprise.

About the Author

Susan Neiman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Yale University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0195067681
• ISBN 13: 9780195067682
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224