Critique of Pure Reason

Methodology and Conclusions

In «Critique of Pure Reason», Immanuel Kant employs a transcendental methodology to investigate the conditions of possibility for human knowledge. He divides knowledge into a priori (independent of experience) and a posteriori (dependent on experience), as well as into analytic (true by definition) and synthetic (expanding knowledge). Kant argues that synthetic a priori knowledge is possible due to the structures of the mind and categories such as space and time. Kant's main conclusions include the assertion that our knowledge is limited to phenomena, while noumena (things-in-themselves) remain unknowable. He also introduces the concept of transcendental apperception, asserting that the unity of consciousness is a necessary condition for experience. Kant concludes that metaphysics as a science is only possible within the limits of the critique of reason, and that reason must limit itself to avoid illusions and contradictions.