Critique of Pure Reason
by Immanuel Kant · Kritik der reinen Vernunft
Assigned by 5 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1781, revised 1787
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- German
- Length
- Long · 700 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Formidable5 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendCritique of Pure Reason, translated by Paul Guyer and Allen W. WoodCambridge University Press, 1998Complete, includes both the A and B editions, and is the translation most courses cite.
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Kant's central work asks how knowledge that is both necessary and informative, such as mathematics and the principles of physics, is possible. His answer is that space and time are forms of human sensibility and that the categories of the understanding, such as causality and substance, are conditions that the mind imposes on experience. Knowledge is therefore limited to appearances, not things in themselves. The second half shows how reason, when it reaches beyond experience to the soul, the world as a whole and God, falls into illusion and contradiction, and clears room for faith and freedom.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Critique of Pure Reason are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
