Philosophy 187

Reason and its limits: Kant on the Soul, the World, and God

Few works in philosophy can claim an impact far-reaching enough to influence our everyday way of thinking. According to some, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason has achieved this most likely because it banished certain questions—such as Is the soul immortal? Does the world have a beginning? Does God exist?—beyond our grasp.

In this course, we will focus on this banishment. Why does Kant think that we cannot have knowledge of the soul, the world as a whole, and God? And why does he think that reason involves itself in contradictions and confusions?

We will read passages from all parts of the Critique, but our main focus will be on the section in which Kant lays out his conception of reason, the Transcendental Dialectic.