Kantian Philosophy: Analytic and Synthetic Judgments

The Study of Judgments

Kant notes that all our knowledge is expressed in judgments. Judgments expressing scientific knowledge are contained in those that state or deny something about something; they have a subject-predicate structure and are endowed with a truth value. The way these statements are built reveals, Kant thinks, the conditions that make scientific knowledge possible.

Classifying Analytic and Synthetic Judgments

We can classify judgments into analytic and synthetic on the one hand, and a priori and a posteriori on the other. This was a commonly accepted classification.

• Analytic judgments are those whose predicate is somehow contained in the subject. For example: "The whole is greater than its parts." It is enough to analyze the concept of a "whole" to find the truth of the predicate. These judgments do not give us any new information or, as Kant says, are not extensive; they do not expand our knowledge.
• Synthetic judgments, by contrast, are those in which the predicate is not contained in the subject. "All native people from village X are more than 1.90m" is a synthetic judgment, since the notion of the subject does not include the predicate. These judgments do provide information; they are extensive.

A Priori and A Posteriori Judgments

• A priori judgments are those whose truth can be known independently of experience since their foundation is not in it. "A whole is greater than its parts" is an a priori judgment: we know its truth without having to test and measure the whole and its parts.
• A posteriori judgments are those whose truth is known from experience. "All the natives of village X are over 1.90 meters" is an a posteriori judgment: we have no other recourse than to see such individuals if we are to have certainty of the truth.

This distinction helps to differentiate certain important features of both types of judgments. The a priori judgments are universal and necessary; by contrast, a posteriori judgments are neither universal nor necessary.

The Synthetic A Priori Judgment

Kant affirms the existence of another type of judgment, which is his most original and surprising contribution to the study of judgments. Contrary to Hume, Kant admits that there are synthetic a priori judgments. Being synthetic, they are extensive, extending our knowledge; being a priori, they are universal and necessary, and knowledge of their truth requires no experience. Moreover, the fundamental principles of science (mathematics and physics) are of this type.