Edwards, MV; (2013) Kant's Transcendental Logic. Masters thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The present work seeks to track the development of the positive doctrines of the Transcendental Aesthetic and Analytic of Kant’s first Critique in light of his innovative vision of a possible science that he entitles transcendental logic. Such a logic, like its ‘general’ counterpart, will amount to an a priori exhibition of the most fundamental operations of the cognitive faculty Kant entitles understanding, but transcendental logic will be distinguished by its capacity to bring into view the status of the understanding not just as a capacity for thinking, but as a capacity for thinking of objects. If such a science is possible, Kant will have the means to explain the possibility of synthetic a priori judgements, passing a verdict on the metaphysical tradition that does not beg the question against its sceptical detractors. Given the terms of Kant’s account of cognition, an a priori thinking of objects would have to involve a conceptual determination of the pure intuitions of space and time. Given, in addition, the status of such forms of awareness as mere formalisations of empirical consciousness, an a priori thinking of objects will itself be a formal manifestation of the necessary relation between discursive thinking and a sensible given. Now, a logical investigation of the understanding will only disclose facts about the necessary form of such a relationship if the understanding plays a prediscursive role in making objects available for thought – as the metaphysical deduction urges. The Transcendental Deduction, in connecting the conditions of self-conscious thought with those of self-conscious experience, and both with fundamental concepts Kant entitles the ‘categories’, goes a significant way towards showing that the understanding plays just such a role. Although its success is only partial, the Deduction should thus be seen as the first realisation of the idea of a transcendental logic.

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