"Take the example of Kant: of all philosophers, Kant is the one who discovers the prodigious domain of the transcendental. He is the analogue of a great explorer — not of another world, but of the upper or lower reaches of this one."
- Gilles Deleuze

Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Winter 2020
Wednesdays, 1:00 - 3:00pm, LB 681
Beginning Jan. 8

*There is no formal enrollment or credit, nor any assignments for this course. Participants are responsible only for reading and discussing the text at weekly meetings over the course of one semester. Anyone is welcome to attend. 

Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787) is a foundational text of modern European philosophy. It is central to understanding the critical vocation of much contemporary theory, whether stemming from the Frankfurt School or from Derridean deconstruction. It is basic to understanding the transcendental phenomenology of Husserl, the existential phenomenology of Heidegger, or the transcendental empiricism of Deleuze. It is a pivotal point of reference for any debate concerning the categories of subject and object. It offers an epochal reframing of concepts of space and time, and Kant’s rethinking of the relation between philosophy and science undergirds many of the epistemological positions developed by contemporary science studies.

This course will provide an opportunity to study Kant’s first critique in depth. Our goal will be to grasp the structural and conceptual developments of the text while also seeking to understand their place in intellectual history and their importance to current philosophical and theoretical debates.

READING SCHEDULE 
Critique of Pure Reason (Penguin Classics, trans. Marcus Weigelt)

WEEK 1 Preface to Second Edition & Introduction - pp. 14-55 (B1-B30)
Jan. 8 (no need to read in advance)

WEEK 2 Transcendental Aesthetic, pp. 59-84 (B33-B73)
Jan. 15 Of Space, Of Time

WEEK 3 Transcendental Logic, First Division - pp. 85-120 (B74-B129)
Jan. 22 Introduction, Transcendental Analytic - Book I, Analytic of Concepts

WEEK 4 Transcendental Logic, First Division - pp. 121-171 (B130-B169)
Jan. 29 Transcendental Analytic -  Book I, Analytic of Concepts

WEEK 5 Transcendental Logic, First Division - pp. 172-237 (B170-B274)
Feb. 5 Transcendental Analytic - Book II, Analytic of Principles

WEEK 6 Transcendental Logic, First Division - pp. 238-284 (B275-B349)
Feb. 12 Transcendental Analytic - Book II, Analytic of Principles,

WEEK 7 Transcendental Logic, Second Division - pp. 285-315 (B350-B396)
Feb. 19 Transcendental Dialectic - Introduction, Book I, Concepts of Pure Reason (Ideas)

WEEK 8 Transcendental Logic, Second Division - pp. 314-377 (B397-B432)
Mar. 4 Transcendental Dialectic - Book II Chapter I, Parologisms of Pure Reason

WEEK 9 Transcendental Logic, Second Division - pp. 378-484 (B433-B595)
Mar. 11 Transcendental Dialectic - Book II Chapter II, Antinomy of Pure Reason

WEEK 10 Transcendental Logic, Second Division - pp. 485-531 (B596-B670)
Mar. 18 Transcendental Dialectic - Book II Chapter III, Ideal of Pure Reason

WEEK 11 Transcendental Logic, Second Division - pp. 532-570 (B671-B732)
Mar. 25 Transcendental Dialectic - Appendix, Regulative Use of Ideas of Pure Reason

WEEK 12 Transcendental Doctrine of Method - pp. 571-629 (B733-B823)
Apr. 1 Introduction, Chapter I, The Discipline of Pure Reason

WEEK 13 Transcendental Doctrine of Method - pp. 629-668 (B824-B884)
Apr. 8 Chapter II, III, IV, Canon, Architectonic, and History of Pure Reason