Reading Kant topographically
from critical philosophy to empirical geography
pp. 146-165
in: Roxana Baiasu, Graham Bird, A. W. Moore (eds), Contemporary Kantian metaphysics, Berlin, Springer, 2012Abstract
The idea that the Kantian philosophy could be read "topographically' – that is, in a way that takes it to be centrally concerned with the delineation of a certain topos or place (Ort, Stelle)1– is suggested by the very terminology that Kant uses in the development and articulation of his work, and by the ideas and images that he frequently deploys – both in the critical works and elsewhere.2 Perhaps nowhere is this more vividly apparent than in the famous metaphor, in chapter III of the "Analytic of Principles', in which he describes his project as one of surveying the "land of truth'– a land that turns out to be an island surrounded by dangerous and deceptive seas.3
