The Powers of Pure Reason: Kant and the Idea of Cosmic Philosophy

Alfredo Ferrarin

ISBN 10: 022641938X / ISBN 13: 9780226419381

Published by University Of Chicago Press, 2016

About this Item

Num Pages: 352 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HPCD. Category: (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly. Dimension: 154 x 229 x 22. Weight in Grams: 494. . 2016. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780226419381

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Powers of Pure Reason: Kant and the Idea of Cosmic Philosophy
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022641938X
• ISBN 13: 9780226419381
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The Critique of Pure Reason―Kant’s First Critique―is one of the most studied texts in intellectual history, but as Alfredo Ferrarin points out in this radically original book, most of that study has focused only on very select parts. Likewise, Kant’s oeuvre as a whole has been compartmentalized, the three Critiques held in rigid isolation from one another. Working against the standard reading of Kant that such compartmentalization has produced, The Powers of Pure Reason explores forgotten parts of the First Critique in order to find an exciting, new, and ultimately central set of concerns by which to read all of Kant’s works.    

Ferrarin blows the dust off of two egregiously overlooked sections of the First Critique―the Transcendental Dialectic and the Doctrine of Method. There he discovers what he argues is the Critique’s greatest achievement: a conception of the unity of reason and an exploration of the powers it has to reach beyond itself and legislate over the world. With this in mind, Ferrarin dismantles the common vision of Kant as a philosopher writing separately on epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics and natural teleology, showing that the three Critiques are united by this underlying theme: the autonomy and teleology of reason, its power and ends. The result is a refreshing new view of Kant, and of reason itself.

About the Author

Alfredo Ferrarin is professor of theoretical philosophy at the University of Pisa. He is the author or editor of several books, including Hegel and Aristotle.