The World

Abstract

The Mathematical Antinomies are perhaps the pivotal sections of Kant’s entire Critique. (He himself says that the Antinomies are where one should begin in order to understand the Critique.) These sections are both the key to understanding the complexity of the text of the Critique¹ and also to understanding the doctrine of transcendental idealism which is definitive of Kant’s theoretical philosophy. The crux of the Mathematical Antinomies is over representation of the world or unrestricted general representation. In this first section then of Chapter 4 we consider how to express generality in K-language or in a language in which the sole function of thought is to legitimate behavior. In Section 2 we shall then consider the consequence of this expression of generality, namely that we can represent what are merely appearances, that space and time are mere forms of intuition, or that the sole function of thought is to govern behavior.