Kant and the Foundations of Metaphysical Science

The Nature of Metaphysics

Metaphysics is purely speculative knowledge and is totally separate from experience. Throughout history, its objects of study have been three: God, the soul, and the world. All of them share the fact that they are not objects of experience; that is, they are beyond the scope of empirical knowledge.

Kant and the Scientific Status of Metaphysics

Kant questions whether metaphysics can be considered a science, given that mathematics (specifically arithmetic and geometry) has successfully achieved that status. Throughout history, earlier philosophers attempted to find a method to attain secure knowledge:

• Rationalism: Sought to know metaphysical objects using only reason.
• Empiricism: Criticized rationalist claims, arguing that knowledge is limited to what is perceived through the senses.

This disagreement led Kant to consider that the methods used to date were invalid and that the focus on the path to metaphysics was erroneous. He proposed a new way to access knowledge of these objects.

The Copernican Revolution in Philosophy

Kant realized that both rationalists and empiricists accepted that knowledge is governed by objects. He proposed a turn—a revolution similar to that of Copernicus—in which phenomena are governed by rules that already exist a priori within the subject.

Defining Science

Once Kant clarified the problem of metaphysics, he addressed the fundamental question of what constitutes science. For Kant, science is defined by the judgment, which is the action and effect of thinking. To be scientific, a judgment must meet two requirements:

• Material Condition: It must increase knowledge, provided by particular and contingent experience.
• Formal Condition: It must be universal and necessary, provided by the subject as a priori and transcendental.