Comment on Webb
pp. 71-72
in: Abner Shimony, Debra Nails (eds), Naturalistic epistemology, Berlin, Springer, 1987Abstract
This is a paper of great merit, quite apart from its relevance to the aims of the present book. Webb meticulously, fairly, and imaginatively analyzes Kant's arguments concerning geometrical knowledge. He brings to bear on this project a large body of information concerning the Kantian texts, the geometrical writings of Kant's predecessors and contemporaries, and the great harvest of results on the foundations of geometry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Webb deploys this information not only for critically assessing Kant's theses, but also for exploring possible defenses of them which lie beyond the technical resources which were available to Kant.
