Professor Jim Vernon
jvernon@yorku.ca

Virtual office hours: Wed 11-12:30

It is impossible to overestimate the unique importance of Kant's critical philosophy for the history of Western philosophy. His philosophical project was not only one of the paradigms of Enlightenment thought; it synthesized the then-dominant rationalist and empiricist philosophies into a powerful new system that grounded science, morality, and aesthetics on autonomous and human, yet also universal and necessary, reason. It is no exaggeration to refer to all subsequent Continental thought, as well as varied important strains of Anglo-American philosophy that emerged after his work, as substantially ‘post-Kantian’.

This course will focus on his masterpiece, the Critique of Pure Reason. Kant's aim in this pivotal work is not just to discover the conditions for the very possibility of empirical experience in general, but, moreover, to determine the specific boundaries of their legitimate employment. The objective of the course is to familiarize students with some of the main concepts of Kant’s theoretical philosophy, and to critically appraise his arguments for them in the light of some historical and contemporary rivals. Topics covered will include: the theory of knowledge and self; the validity of the distinction between how objects appear to us and how they are assumed to exist ‘in themselves’; the role of imagination in the acquisition of empirical knowledge; the conflict between, and shared assumptions of, rationalism and empiricism; causality, duration, simultaneity, and the experience of time; and the ‘necessary illusions’ of metaphysics and how to rationally eliminate them.

Note/Warning: Kant’s magnum opus is not only arguably among the most influential and brilliant (which isn’t to say correct) texts in the history of Western philosophy; it is also an infamously and extremely difficult one. It does not offer a series of theses regarding the topics listed above, but builds them into and defends them through a complex systematic argument, that itself unfolds slowly through the course of dozens of smaller arguments, each as vital as the next. This requires the mastery of a technical vocabulary often at odds with our usual sense of the words he deploys, as well as a change in understanding our own empirical experience, to use Kant’s own analogy, as drastic as the paradigm shift brought about when Copernicus reversed our sense of the relative roles of the Earth and Sun within our solar system. As such, these are readings you will need to do at least twice, and both attendance and active involvement in class are absolutely essential to succeeding in the course. This is also why we will have a review class midway through the course on the structure of Kant’s system before moving on to the elucidation of the specific structure of cognition, before concluding by examining what he calls the necessary illusions that result from the nature of our mind, and how he thinks we can avoid them. I highly recommend that you and your fellow students form study groups to discuss on their own (philosophy is always better when studied this way), and consult me in office hours and on email whenever you have concerns or questions throughout the course. Finally, a background in rationalism and empiricism (esp. Hume) is very strongly recommended. Sorry for all the italics, etc. but, seriously, this is a very hard, as well as essential and ultimately (IMHO) philosophically thrilling book.

[List what students will need in order to fully participate in your course. If you are expecting that students participate in your course 1) through video conferencing and 2) that they also appear on video (e.g., for tutorial/seminar discussion, remote proctoring, oral exams, etc.), please let them know upfront. In addition to stable, higher-speed Internet connection, these students will need a computer with webcam and microphone, and/or a smart device with these features.]

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]

Times and locations: Thurs. 2:30-:530. During the first week we will discuss the options of running the course synchronously or asynchronously. Class will be fully online, through York’s moodle/eclass system. This is a course that depends on remote teaching and learning. There will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus.

1. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. P Guyer and A. Wood (Cambridge, 1998)

Please ensure that you use this translation, both so that the whole class is reading a common edition, and so that the vocabulary is common between your text and the lectures/discussions. Kant is hard enough without trying to read across translations that often differ sharply in terms of word choice; it is also rapidly becoming the industry standard, for it is the most accurate reflection of the German original.

Kant also produced two versions of his work, and although they are largely similar, one whole section was deleted and replaced with a new argument, and many smaller additions or deletions were made throughout. The numbers in the original manuscripts (the so-called A and B editions of the 1^st Critique), are listed in the margins of virtually all extant editions, and it has become customary for scholars to refer to these numbers rather than the pages. Because any secondary sources you encounter will assuredly use them, and because there may be e-versions of this text available with different pagination, I have followed this tradition below, and will in the lectures.

Weekly Reflections/Questions 30%

Term Paper 35%

Take-Home Final ‘Exam’ 35%

Weekly Reflections/Questions

Starting the second class, you will need to submit (by email) a short, one paragraph reflection on one aspect of that week’s reading which you found particularly interesting, difficult, or problematic, closing with a question that will help me guide the lecture for that week. You need to submit a total of ten, which will be graded from 1-3 (1 reflecting something that doesn’t clearly convey that you’ve seriously worked with the material, 3 being a clear presentation of the text at hand, with an interesting and vital question for discussion, 2 landing in between); they can be submitted the review week, as regards any part of the previous material on which you have not already submitted a reflection.

Term Paper

Term paper topics will be posted on the webpage on October 1^st. All questions will require a critical assessment of one of Kant’s core arguments. Secondary research is not strictly required, but is often helpful in making a paper strong, and thus is recommended. I also highly recommend that every student discuss their paper approach with me in office hours or on email. Students who send me a 2-page outline of the argument they will present in their paper to discuss, will automatically have 5% added to the final grade of their paper. I also strongly recommend that all students consult the departmental guide on writing philosophy essays: http://www.yorku.ca/hjackman/Teaching/handbook.pdf

Take-Home Final ‘Exam’

This will not be a formal exam, but a shorter, less formal term paper that you will have one week to write; questions will be similar to the term paper, but will not require scholarly apparatus, etc. The topic will be announced at the end of the final class, and posted on the webpage.

[Thurs. Sept. 10^th

Intro. to Kant’s Critical Philosophy (Suggested Reading: the Prefaces and Introductions)

Thurs. Sept. 17^st

Transcendental Aesthetic (A19/B33-A49/B73)

Thurs. Sept. 24^th

Logic; Intro to the Analytic; Intro to the Deduction (A51/B75-A94/B129)

Thurs. Oct. 1^st

B Deduction (B130-B169)

Essay Topics Posted on Website!

Thurs. Oct. 8^th

No class (Holiday)

Thurs. Oct. 15^th

Analytic of Principles; Schematism (A130/B169-A162/B202

Thurs. Oct. 22^th

Review class on the general architecture of Kant’s system, before moving on to the specific categories/transcendental dialectic

Thurs. Oct. 29^th

Axioms, Anticipations; 1^st Analogy (A162/B202-A189/B232)

Thurs. Nov. 5^th

2^nd and 3^rd Analogies (A188/B232-A218/B265)

Thurs. Nov. 12^th

Postulates; Phenomena and Noumena (A218/B266-A260/B315)

Thurs. Nov. 19^th

Transcendental Illusion (A293/B349-A340/B398)

Thurs. Nov. 26^th

Antinomies (A405/B432-A567/B595)

Essays Due (at philosophy office and on turnitin.com)!

Thurs. Dec 3^rd

Antinomies, continued (A405/B432-A567/B595); Concluding discussion

Thurs. Dec. 10^th

Take Home Due (on turnitin.com)!

Students will come to understand and critically appraise Kant’s theoretical philosophy, and its influence on subsequent philosophy.

Information on essays and late penalties

Essays are due on the day of the second last class, November 26^th. However, all students can have an automatic extension of up to one week for their term paper.  The sole penalty will be that you will receive a grade, but no substantive comments. After that week week, papers will be accepted for 7 more days, with a penalty of 5% per day, and again, will receive no comments. Students who receive no comments, but do not agree with their grade can then petition to have their work re-graded by someone else, and I will support the petition. After April 13th, term papers will not be accepted, and the take-home final exam cannot be handed in late. Exceptions will only be made for a) illness (with MD’s note) and b) death in the family. I must be given 24 hours notice on email for these exceptions to be made, and they are at my discretion, not automatic. Do NOT slip essays under my door and do NOT email them to me; I will not accept them. Departmental requirements demand that all essays be uploaded to ‘turnitin.com’. Pursuant to the Guidelines of the Yorku Academic Advisory Group, students have the right to opt out of submitting assignments to Turnitin. However, if you elect not to use Turnitin, in order to ensure academic integrity and fairness, I will conduct my own academic integrity review which will require one or more of the following: the submission of multiple drafts, the submission of a detailed annotated bibliography, or the submission of photocopies of source documents. I may also require you to take an oral examination directed at issues of your assignment’s originality, ask you to respond in writing to questions about your assignment’s originality, or provide a written report concerning the process of completing the work. The easiest option, in short, is submitting to Turnitin. I will not assign a grade to any essay that has not been submitted to Turnitin or that has not met my requirements for an alternative academic integrity review.

Information on registering for and using turnitin.com can be found here: http://www.yorku.ca/computng/students/turnitin.html.

Citations

Either MLA or Chicago Manual styles are fine, but they must be used consistently and clearly. In other words, use only one style, and make it an existent style. If you choose to use secondary sources, they must be properly cited in full, lest you fall prey to the perils of…

Academic Dishonesty

It is YOUR responsibility to know what Academic Dishonesty is, what the penalties for it are, and how to avoid it. Know in advance I will seek, at minimum, a zero on the offending work, and that the penalty can include your being debarred, not only from York, but from all Canadian universities. In short, don’t do it. If you are remotely unsure about what levels of citation, collaboration, etc. constitute infractions, consult the academic integrity website for complete information about academic honesty: http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity/students.htm.