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Critique of Pure Reason

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant effectively settles the question of the compatibility of free will and determinism. First, he explains the antimony which plagues reason; then, he discusses the fallacy that reason commits by confusing the crucial distinction established by transcendental idealism between appearances and thingsinthemselves; next, he shows how this distinction supports the claim that the causality of natural law and the causality of freedom are compatible; finally, he examines the implications of this compatibility for human actions and morality.

Kant convincingly argues both for the thesis that free will and natural law are compatible and for the antithesis, which claims only natural laws determine events. By presenting these proofs, both of which seem true, he introduces the antimony in which reason ensnares itself.

Kant approaches the proof of compatibility of free will and natural law by assuming the antithesis. If one doesn't assume a first cause, the series of natural causes will regress infinitely. One cannot make sense of a world governed by an infinite, incomplete chain of empirical causes. Therefore, for the sake of the conceivability of our world, we must posit an absolute uncaused cause. Kant defines the causality of freedom as this "absolute spontaneity of the cause" which originates a series of appearances obedient to the laws of nature.

He also proves that natural laws are the sole causes by assuming that the causality of freedom is compatible. If the two kinds of causality both exist, then both the series of appearances and the original cause will have an absolute beginning. That is, an absolute cause presupposes a state which has no causal connection. However, without causal connections, unity of experience is impossible. Therefore, an absolute cause is an empty thought entity.

In summary, then, while the causality of freedom offers a solution to the problem of infinite r...

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Critique of Pure Reason. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:16, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1680522.html