Kant's prolegomena to any future metaphysics

313 Pages·2009·5.28 MB·English

by  Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804

KANT'S PROLEGOMENA
TO ANY FUTURE METAPHYSICS
EDITED IN ENGLISH
DR. PAUL CARUS
THIRD EDITION
WITH AN ESSAY ON KANT'S PHILOSOPHY, AND
OTHER SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
FOR THE STUDY OF KANT
CHICAGO
THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY
1912
TRANSLATION COPYRIGHTED
BY
TheOpen Court PublishingCo.
igo2.
TRANSLA-
TheOpen C
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.
"jy"ANT'SProlegomena} although a small book, isindubitably
the most importantof hiswritings. Itfurnishesuswitha
keyto his main work, The CritiqueofPureReason; in fact, it
isanextractcontaining all the salient ideasofKant'ssystem. It
approaches the subject in the simplestandmostdirectway, and
istherefore best adapted as an introduction intohisphilosophy.
Forthisreason, TheOpenCourtPublishingCompanyhasdeemed
it advisable to bring out a new edition of thework, keeping in
viewits broader use as -a. preliminarysurveyand explanation of
Kant'sphilosophy in general. In order to make thebookuseful
for this broader purpose, the editor has not onlystatedhisown
views concerning the problem underlying the Prolegomena(see
page 167etseq.), but has also collected the most important ma-
terialswhichhavereferencetoKant'sphilosophy, orto therecep-
tion which was accordedtoitinvariousquarters(seepage241et
seq.). The selections havenotbeenmadefromapartisanstand-
point, buthavebeenchosenwithaviewtocharacterisingtheatti-
tude of different minds, and to directing the student tothebest
literatureon thesubject.
It is not without good reasons that the appearance of the
CritiqueofPureReason is regarded as the beginning ofanew
erain thehistoryof philosophy; and so it seems thatacompre-
hensionofKant'sposition, whetherweacceptorrejectit, isindis-
pensabletothestudentofphilosophy. Itisnot hissolutionwhich
1Prolegomena means literally prefatory or introductory remarks. Itis
theneuterpluralofthepresentpassiveparticipleofirpoAe'-yetv,tospeakhe/ore^
i.e.,tomakeintroductoryremarksbeforebeginningone'sregulardiscourse.
iv PREFACE.
makesthesageofKonigsberg theinitiatorofmodernthought, but
hisformulationof theproblem.
Thepresent translationispracticallynew, butitgoeswithout
sayingthattheeditorutilisedthelaborsofhispredecessors,among
whom Prof.JohnP.MahaffyandJohn H.Bernarddeservespecial
credit. Richardson'stranslationof 1818 mayberegardedassuper-
seded and has not been consulted, but occasional reference has
been made tothatofProf. ErnestBelfortBax. Considering the
diflSculties under which even these translators labored we must
recognisethefactthat theydid theirworkwell, with painstaking
diligence,greatloveofthesubject,andgoodjudgment. Theeditor
ofthepresenttranslationhastheadvantageof beingto themanor
born; moreover, he is pretty well versed in Kant's style; and
whereverhediffers from his predecessorsin theinterpretationof
aconstruction, he has deviated from them notwithout goodrea-
sons. Nevertheless there are some passages which will still re-
main doubtful, though happilytheyareoflittleconsequence.
Asacuriosum in Richardson'stranslationProfessorMahaffy
mentions that the words widersinnig ge-wundene Schnecken,
which simply means "symmetric helices,"' are rendered by
—
"snailsrolled up contrarytoallsense" awording that is itself
contrary to all sense and makes the whole paragraph unintelli-
gible. We may add an instance of anothermistakethatmisses
themark. Kantemploysin theAppendixa wordthatisnolonger
usedinGerman. HespeaksoftheCentoderMetafhysikashaving
neueLaffen and einen verdnderten Zuschnitt. Mr. Bax trans-
lates Cento by "body,"La^^en by "outgrowths," andZuschnitt
by "figure." His mistake is perhaps not less excusable than
Richardson's; it iscertainlynot less comical, andit alsodestroys
the sense, which in the present case is a very striking simile.
1Mahaffy not incorrectly translates "spirals winding opposite ways,"
andMr,Baxfollowshimverbatimeventotherepetitionofthefootnote.
PREFACE. V
CentoisaLatinword* derivedfrom the Greek nhirpm),^meaning
"a garment of many patches sewed together,"or, as we might
nowsay, "acrazyquilt."
* * •
Inthehopethat thisbookwillproveuseful, The OpenCourt
PublishingCompanyoffersitasahelptothestudentofphilosophy.
p. c.
ITheFrenchcentonisstilliause.
ZjcEi'Tpfoi',(z)one that hearsthemarksofthefcevrpoi',goad; arogue,(2)a
patchedcloth;{3)anykindofpatchwork,especiallyversesmadeupofscraps
fromotherauthors.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Kant's Prolegomena 1-163
Essayon Kant's PhilosophybyDr. PaulCarus. (WithPor-
traitsof KantandGarve) 167-240
Supplementary Materials for the Study of Kant's Lite and
Philosophy
IntroductoryNote 243
Kant'sLifeandWritings. (AfterWindelband) 245
TheCritique of PracticalReason and theCritique of
Judgment. (AfterWeber) 250
Kant'sViewsonReligion. (AfterSchwegler) 258
Kant andMaterialism. (AfterLange) 261
KantandDeism. (AfterHeinrich Heine.) With Fac-
simile of the Title-page of the Critique of Pure
Reason 264
TheKantianPhilosophy. (AfterArthurSchopenhauer) 279
HostileEstimateof KantbyaSwedenborgian. (After
TheodoreF. Wright) 283
Facsimile and Translation of aLetterof Kant toHis
Brother 285
Chronology of Kant's Life and Publications. (After
Paulsen) 287
IndextoKant'sProlegomena 293
Indexto theArticleonKant'sPhilosophy 299