Transcendental idealism and direct realism in Kant

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Date
2009-12-22Author
Sopuck, Forrest Adam
Type
ThesisDegree Level
MastersMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Kant scholarship has a long, rich history of disagreement and interpretive reservations regarding the Critique of Pure Reason. One disagreement is over whether the first Critique contains a sufficient proof of the doctrine of transcendental idealism. Another disagreement revolves around the question of whether Kant’s doctrine of transcendental idealism and its associated metaphysical/epistemological terms conflict with direct realism – a view that Kant also appears to be committed to. This thesis evaluates what Henry Allison, in his work entitled: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism: an Interpretation and Defense (1983), sets forth as the direct proof for transcendental idealism given in the first Critique. The inter-theoretical relation between transcendental idealism and direct realism is also evaluated, and argument is given for considering the two doctrines as consistent with one another after all.
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)Department
PhilosophyProgram
PhilosophySupervisor
Dwyer, PhilCommittee
Howe, Leslie; Regnier, Daniel; Zichy, Francis; Pfeifer, KarlCopyright Date
December 2009Subject
epistemology
thing in itself
appearance
world