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1、Kant'sAccountofReasonFirstpublishedFriSep12,2008;substantiverevisionTueMay12,2009TwoofthemostprominentquestionsinKant'scriticalphilosophyconcernreason.Thefirst,centraltohistheoreticalphilosophy,istheunprovablepretensionsofreasoninearlier“rationalist”p
2、hilosophers,especiallyLeibnizandDescartes.Thesecond,centraltohispracticalphilosophy,isthesubservientroleaccordedtoreasonbytheBritishempiricists—aboveallHume,whodeclared,“Reasoniswhollyinactive,andcanneverbethesourceofsoactiveaprincipleasconscience,ora
3、senseofmorals.”(Treatise,3.1.1.11;seealsotheentryonRationalismvs.Empiricism.)Thusthetitlesoftwokeyworks:themonumentalCritiqueofPureReason,andtheCritiqueofPracticalReasonthatismiddlepointofhisgreattrioofmoralwritings(betweentheGroundworkoftheMetaphysic
4、sofMoralsandTheMetaphysicsofMorals).ItisclearthatpracticalreasonisthefoundationofKant'smoralphilosophy.Itislessclearwhatrolereasonplaysinhistheoreticalphilosophy.Kantinsiststhat“metaphysicsisutterlyimpossible,oratbestadisorderlyandbunglingendeavour”if
5、wedonotseparate“ideasofreason”from“conceptsoftheunderstanding”(Prolegomena§41,4:329).Butwhileheemphasisesthesolidityoftheempiricalknowledgegainedviathelatter,reasonoftenappearstobemerelyasourceoferrorandillusion.(Thisisespeciallysowithregardtothemost-
6、readsectionsofthefirstCritique—theAesthetic,AnalyticandDialectic.)Butifthiswereso,thestatusofphilosophicalreasoningitselfwouldstandingravedoubt.Inaddition,wemightnotethatKantrarelydiscussesreasonassuch.Thisleavesadifficultinterpretativetask:justwhatis
7、Kant'sgeneralandpositiveaccountofreason?Thisentryhasthefollowingstructure.ThefirstsectionsetsouttherolethatreasonplaysinKant'saccountofknowledgeandmetaphysicsinthefirstCritique—somethingthatisrelativelyuncontroversialinthesecondaryliterature.Thesecond
8、sectionexamineskeyaspectsofreasoninthemoralphilosophy,withespecialreferencetothesecondCritique.ReflectingKant'scanonicaltextsandthebulkofthesecondaryliterature,thesediscussionsoftheoreticalandpracticalreasonarerelativelyindependentofoneanother
