Blecher, Ian
(2012)
Kant and the Meaning of Existence: A Modal Account.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
It is a distinctive claim of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason that what exists outside the mind is always represented under a modality — i.e. as possible, actual or necessary. The interest of this claim is not widely appreciated. Most commentators have ignored it; a few have rejected it out of hand. Since the Critique presents modality as a basic aspect of human knowledge, however, this is a serious oversight. My dissertation is an attempt to rectify it. The main idea is that, for Kant, the knowledge of what exists is connected with a certain kind of progress in the mind — a progress from the capacity to know (possibility) to the act of this capacity, (actuality), and finally to the perfection of that act (necessity). To the extent that the representation of this progress figures in our knowledge of what exists, such knowledge is thus at least implicitly modal. I argue, however, that Kant also intends something stronger: viz. that knowledge of what exists is constituted by its representation within the progress of modalities. It follows that modality is not just one feature of this knowledge among others, but its characteristic form.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
24 September 2012 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
2 August 2012 |
| Approval Date: |
24 September 2012 |
| Submission Date: |
8 August 2012 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
86 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Philosophy |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Kant, modality, epistemology, metaphysics, modern philosophy |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Sep 2012 21:47 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:01 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/13481 |
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