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Created: July 21, 2003
Latest Update: July 21, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Harry Potter

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, July 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

Kant says that although reason begins with experience, we can call upon transcendental reason - reason which is in and of the mind, but which applies to that outside the mind. Hence, God exists. Perhaps we can get past this with Harry Potter by recognizing that Kant is dealing with "first causes" here, things that do not originate in our minds as interpretation of experience. But we can know a first cause, that exists outside the mind, by the concept within the mind of first causes. I think, she said. Dear me this is worse than trying to do Tao with Pooh Bear. This is my first attempt, kids. I just read right through Critique of Pure Reason and Prof. Cavalier's lectures on it.

I'm reasonably content, though, that all this philosophy is giving me a transcendental possibility of knowing that which is outside my experience. Sort of figures that Harry Potter would go for that. And that's how we started out on this, with The Phenomenology of Harry, or the Critique of Pure Potter. By Patricia Cohen. New York Times, Saturday, July 19. 2003.

Some References:

Lectures on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) Excellent summary by Robert Cavalier, Chair of Carnegie Mellon University Philosophy Department.

God in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason By Aisling Gogan

"In his analysis of the conditions of the possible cognition of objects Kant distinguishes between different kinds of judgments. In doing so, he is examining what type of cognitions make up, or could make up, the concept of God or any other metaphysical consideration. Kant does not divide propositions, as traditionally done, into the empirical and the a priori. Instead, Kant talks about judgments, propositions that are held by a subject. Kant argues that all judgments are either analytic or synthetic, and either a priori or a posteriori. Analytic judgments are those in which the predicate inheres in the subject or is presupposed by it. [. . .] Synthetic judgments are those in which the predicate is not in the subject. A priori in the Kantian sense means held before experience, or what can be held without experience. A posteriori means dependent on and derived from experience."

. . .

"In contrast, Kant calls the concepts of pure reason 'transcendental ideas.' He defines an idea as "a concept formed from notions and transcending the possibility of experience."11 There is no empirical element in transcendental ideas. A principle of reason, therefore, can never be adequate to its empirical employment. Ideas are even further removed from objective reality than are the categories of the understanding, since ideas are never represented in any appearance.12"

Discussion Questions

1. Why would I care if I could define the phenomenology of Harry?

   Consider that if I play puffed up bull frog and fake it, I might lose my status badge at some point. I figure honestly earned disciplined knowledge counts for more than puffed up bull froggery. Besides it's good exercise for my mind.

2. Why would I read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason to be sure I got it right?

   First of all, I can't be sure I got it right. I hope, that thanks to Prof. Cavalier at CMU, I did. But it my attempt to get it right I did go more deeply into the philosophy and understanding of why liberal arts matters. If there are people out there who can play these games because they've read more widely than I have, just maybe there might be some of that knowledge worth having for whatever comes in the future. What a shame that I got to be 68 without reading and understanding it.

3. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason Online translation by Norman Kemp Smith. In case you can find the time to read the whole thing. jeanne

4. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Course Outline University of Bristol. I liked it. jeanne