Kantian Humility by Rae Langton
Rae Langton offers a new interpretation and defence of Kant's doctrine of things in themselves. Kant distinguishes things in themselves from phenomena, and in so doing he makes a metaphysical distinction between intrinsic and relational properties of substances. Kant says that phenomena--things as we know them--consist 'entirely of relations'. His claim that we have no knowledge of things in themselves is not idealism, but epistemic humility: we have no knowledge of the intrinsic properties of substances. This humility has its roots in some plausible philosophical beliefs: an empiricist belief in the receptivity of human knowledge and a metaphysical belief in the irreducibility of relational properties. Langton's interpretation vindicates Kant's scientific realism, and shows his primary/secondary quality distinction to be superior even to modern-day competitors. And it answers the famous charge that Kant's tale of things in themselves is one that makes itself untellable.
a novel attempt to elucidate and defend a central Kantian thesis.. a most interesting, impressive, and scholarly exercise in Kantian interpretation * P. F. Strawson *
Rae Langton is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199243174 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199243174 |
| Title | Kantian Humility |
| Author | Rae Langton |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2001-01-18 |
| Number of pages | 246 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |