A philosophical theory of science

pp. 51-68

in: Otfried Höffe, Kant's critique of pure reason, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

The "Introduction" to the first Critique captures the programme of the entire work through introducing two enormously influential distinctions which have nonetheless encountered considerable resistance ever since. Kant appeals to a twofold opposition between the apriori (independent of experience) and the a posteriori (dependent upon experience), on the one hand, and between analytic (explicative) judgements and synthetic (ampliative) judgements on the other, in order to defend autonomous philosophy as a synthetic a priori discipline.