Links: all supervision subjects; supervision instructions.

Here are the topics, questions, and reading lists for the Part II European Philosophy after Kant supervisions in the Philosophy Tripos at Cambridge. Students must choose just one question per week when more than one is listed. Since there are three thinkers for the four weeks, students must choose two questions from one of them.

The reading lists for Hegel and Nietzsche will be posted here soon. In the meantime they are available on Moodle.

Kant

The key text is Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, written in 1781 (A version) and revised in 1787 (B version). The translation by Guyer and Wood is my favourite:

  • Kant, I. (1998) Critique of Pure Reason. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Translated by P Guyer and A. W. Wood. [iDiscover]

Note that the text sometimes mashes together the A and B versions (when they match) and sometimes keeps them separate (when they don’t). Always read both versions!

You may also use the Norman Kemp-Smith or Jonathan Bennett translations.

Please read all of Sebastian Gardner’s guidebook to Kant and the Critique:

  • Gardner, S. (1999) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. London, Routledge. [iDiscover].

Please also read all of the lecture notes available on Moodle. Consult these while figuring out what to read; see below for more.

Since Kant is fond of using familiar words in unfamiliar ways, you will need to have a dictionary handy:

  • Caygill, H. (1995) A Kant Dictionary. Oxford, Blackwell. [iDiscover].
  • Wuerth, J. (ed.) (2021) The Cambridge Kant Lexicon. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [iDiscover].

Look up the concepts that confuse you and those you use in your essays, even if you think you understand them.

The Cambridge companion is also incredibly useful for finding the best commentary:

  • Guyer, P. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [iDiscover].

To get to grips with Kant’s transcendental idealism it might be worth delving into Allais’ recent book:

  • Allais, L. (2015) Manifest Reality: Kant’s Idealism and His Realism. Oxford, Oxford University Press. [iDiscover].

It might also be useful to consult Longuenesse’s book on the transcendental analytic (Pt. II. Div. I. of the Critique):

  • Longuenesse, B. (1998) Kant and the Capacity to Judge: Sensibility and Discursivity in the Transcendental Analytic of the Critique of Pure Reason. Princeton, Princeton University Press. [iDiscover].

Note that, with the exception of Gardner’s guidebook, you are not expected to read any these books in full. It is impossible to do that without sacrificing attention to detail. Instead you should focus on the themes and sections that are covered in the lectures:

  1. Prefaces and introductions (Avii-Axxii, Bvii- read these carefully, in full)
  2. Transcendental aesthetic (A19-A49/B33-B73)
  3. Transcendental deduction (A84-A130/B117-B169)
  4. First analogy (A177-A189/B218-B232)
  5. Second analogy (A189-A211/B232-B256)
  6. Phenomena, Noumena, and the ‘Problem of Affection’ (A236-A260/B294-B315)
  7. Refutations of idealism (A227-A235/B275-B287)
  8. Kant’s Idealism and Primary/Secondary Qualities

The list of topics is quite general and does not map onto the Critique or the secondary readings in an obvious way. Below is a more detailed, topic-ordered list of what you must read from the Critique along with the key secondary material which it is strongly recommended that you read:

  1. Introduction (A1/B1-A16/B30), Transcendental Aesthetic ‘On Space’ (A19/B33-A30/B46), and The Ground of the Distinction of all Objects into Phenomena and Noumena (A235/B294-A260/B315).
    1. Gardner, Chs. 1–3.
    2. Allais, L. (2010). IV-Kant’s Argument for Transcendental Idealism in the Transcendental Aesthetic. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 110(1pt1), 47–75. [DOI].
    3. Allison, H. (2004). Kant’s Transcendental Idealism. Revised and enlarged edition. New Haven, Yale University Press. [iDiscover].
    4. Anderson, R. L. (2015). The Poverty of Conceptual Truth: Kant’s Analytic/synthetic Distinction and the Limits of Metaphysics, Oxford University Press. [iDiscover].
  2. Transcendental Aesthetic (A19/B33-A48/B73).
    1. Gardner, Ch. 4.
    2. Friedman, M. (1992). Concept and Intuitions on the Mathematical Sciences. In: Kant and the Exact Sciences. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. pp. 93–135.
    3. Warren, D. (1998). Kant and the Apriority of Space. The Philosophical Review. 107 (2), 179–224. [iDiscover].
  3. Metaphysical Deduction (A50/B74 - A83/B116), Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding (A84-A130 / B16-B169).
    1. Gardner, Ch. 6. (First half).
    2. Kraus, K. T. (2020). The Form of Reflexivity and the Expression “I think.” (ch. 3, pp. 83–129) & The Conditions of Self-Reference (ch. 4, pp. 130–168.). In: Kant on Self-Knowledge and Self-Formation: The Nature of Inner Experience, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [DOI].
    3. Longuenesse, B. (2005). Kant on a priori concepts: the metaphysical deduction of the categories. In: Kant on the Human Standpoint, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. pp. 81–116 (ch. 4). [iDiscover].
    4. Young, J.M. (1992). Functions of Thought and the Synthesis of Intuitions. In: P. Guyer (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. pp. 101–122. [iDiscover].
    5. Young, J. M. (1988). Kant’s View of Imagination. Kant-Studien, 79(1–4), 140–164.
  4. First, Second and Third Analogies of Experience (A176-218/B218-265).
    1. Gardner, Ch. 6. (Second half).
    2. Longuenesse, Ch. 11.
    3. Watkins, E. (2005). Kant and the Metaphysics of Causality. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [iDiscover].
  5. Refutation of Idealism (A366-A380 / B274-279), General Note on the System of Principles (B228-294).
    1. Gardner, Ch. 8.
    2. Allison, H. (2004). Inner Sense and the Refutation of Idealism. In: H. Allison. Kant’s Transcendental Idealism. Revised and enlarged edition. New Haven, Yale University Press. pp. 357–395. [iDiscover.]
  6. Introduction to the Transcendental Dialectic (A293/B349–A309/B366), On the Concepts of Pure Reason (A310/B366–A338/B396), Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic (A642/B670–A704/B732).
    1. Grier, M. (2012). Kant’s Critique of Metaphysics. 2012. [SEP].
    2. O’Neill, O. (1992). Vindicating Reason. In: P. Guyer (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. pp. 280–308. [iDiscover].
    3. Willaschek, M. (2018). Kant on the sources of metaphysics : the dialectic of pure reason. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [iDiscover].
  7. On the Dialectical Inferences of Pure Reason (A338/B396–A340/B398), The Paralogisms of Pure Reason A (A341–A405) and B (B399–B432).
    1. Gardner, Ch. 7.
    2. Longuenesse, B. (2008). Kant’s ‘I think’ versus Descartes’ ‘I Am a Thing That Thinks’. In: D. and B.L. Garber (ed.). Kant and the Early Moderns. Princeton, Princeton University Press. pp. 9–31. [iDiscover].
  8. The Antinomy of Pure Reason (A405/B432–567/B595) and Paragraph 3 from Kant’s Groundwork (see below).
    1. Kant, I. (2012). Groundwork of The Metaphysics of Morals. Rev. ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. [iDiscover.]
    2. Gardner, Ch. 7.
    3. Allison, H. (2004). The Antinomy of Pure Reason. In: H. Allison. Kant’s Transcendental Idealism. Revised and enlarged edition. New Haven, Yale University Press. pp. 357–395. [iDiscover].

The Critique has four parts: the prefaces, the introductions, the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements, and the Transcendental Doctrine of Method. You will be reading the first two and most of the third.

The Doctrine of Elements has parts (Pt.), which divide into divisions (Div.), which divide into books (Bk.), which divide into chapters (Ch.), which divide into sections (for which I use ‘§’), which sometimes divide into subsections (no marks), which sometimes divide into subsubsections (no marks):

  • Pt. I. Transcendental Aesthetic.
    • On space.
    • On time.
  • Pt. II. Transcendental Logic.
    • Introduction.
      • I. On logic in general.
      • II. On transcendental logic.
      • III. On the division of general logic into analytic and dialectic.
      • IV. On the division of transcendental logic into the transcendental analytic and dialectic.
    • Div. I. Transcendental Analytic.
      • Bk. I. The Analytic of Concepts.
        • Ch. I. On the Clue to the Discovery of all Pure Concepts of the Understanding.
          • §I. On the logical use of the understanding in general.
          • §II. On the logical function of the understanding in judgments.
          • §III. On the pure concepts of the understanding or categories.
        • Ch. II. On the Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding.1
      • Bk. II. The Transcendental Doctrine of the Power of Judgment (or Analytic of Principles).
        • Ch. I. On the schematism of the pure concepts of the understanding.
        • Ch. II. System of all principles of pure understanding.
          • §I On the supreme principle of all analytic judgments.
          • §II On the supreme principle of all synthetic judgments.
          • §III Systematic representation of all synthetic principles of pure understanding.
            • I. Axioms of Intuition.
            • II. Anticipations of Perception.
            • III. Analogies of Experience.
              1. First Analogy. Principle of the persistence of substance.
              2. Second Analogy. Principle of temporal sequence according to the law of causality.
              3. Third Analogy. Principle of simultaneity, according to the law of interaction, or community.
              4. The postulates of empirical thinking in general.
                • Elucidation.
                • Refutation of Idealism.
                • General Note on the System of Principles.
        • Ch. III. On the ground of the distinction of all objects in general into phenomena and noumena.
        • Appendix. On the amphiboly of the concepts of reflection through the confusion of the empirical use of the understanding with the transcendental.
    • Div. II. Transcendental Dialectic.
      • Introduction.
      • Bk. I. On the concepts of pure reason.
        • §I On the ideas in general.
        • §II On the transcendental ideas.
        • §III The system of the transcendental ideas.
      • Bk. II. The dialectical inferences of pure reason.
        • Ch. I. The paralogisms of pure reason.
        • Ch. II. The antinomy of pure reason.
          • §I The system of cosmological ideas.
          • §II Antithetic of pure reason.
            • First Conflict of the Transcendental Ideas.
            • Second Conflict of the Transcendental Ideas.
            • Third Conflict of the Transcendental Ideas.
            • Fourth Conflict of the Transcendental Ideas.
          • §III On the interest of reason in these conflicts.
          • §IV The transcendental problems of pure reason, insofar as they absolutely must be capable of a solution.
          • §V Skeptical representation of the cosmological questions raised by all four transcendental ideas.
          • §VI Transcendental idealism as the key to solving the cosmological dialectic.
          • §VII Critical decision of the cosmological conflict of reason with itself.
          • §VIII The regulative principlea of pure reason in regard to the cosmological ideas.
          • §IX On the empirical use of the regulative principle of reason, in regard to all cosmological ideas.
          • Concluding remark to the entire antinomy of pure reason.
      • Bk. III. The ideal of pure reason.
        • §I. The ideal in general.
        • §II. The transcendental ideal.
        • §III. The grounds of proof of speculative reason for inferring the existence of a highest being.
        • §IV. On the impossibility of an ontological proof of God’s existence.
        • §V. On the impossibility of a cosmological proof of God’s existence.\
        • §VI. On the impossibility of a physico-theological proof.
        • §VII. Critique of all theology from speculative principles of reason.
      • Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic.

Typical exam questions are as follows:

  • ‘Geometry is a science which determines the properties of space synthetically, and yet a priori.’ Discuss.
  • ‘The analytical unity of apperception is only possible under the presupposition of some synthetic one.’ Analyse this claim and explain its significance for Kant’s argument in the Transcendental Deduction.
  • Did Kant succeed in answering Hume on cause and effect?
  • In what sense, if any, can I know myself? Analyse and evaluate Kant’s answer.

When you write your essay you must cite the translation you are using and the paragraph marks you are referring to: cite ‘Kant 1998 Axvii’, not ‘Kant 1781 p. 102’. That way I can find the same spot in my translation even if it cuts the pages differently.

Hegel

  • Is Hegel a realist?
  • Why does Hegel describe sense-certainty as both the ‘richest’ and the ‘poorest’ kind of knowledge? Is he right?
  • Must Hegelian recognition be reciprocal? Must it be egalitarian?
  • Examine and evaluate Hegel’s use of dialectic in his analysis of ‘being’ and ‘nothingness’.
  • Examine and evaluate Hegel’s use of dialectic in his analysis of ‘lord’ and ‘bondsman’.
  • ‘Hegel’s theory of freedom is intelligible only in the context of his metaphysics.’ Discuss.

Nietzsche

  • How would you convince Nietzsche that you are not a slave?
  • ‘What is good? – Everything that enhances people’s feeling of power, will to power, power itself.’ Discuss.
  • Can genealogy be philosophical?
  • Does the genealogy of a belief make a difference to the truth of that belief? Answer with reference to Nietzsche.
  • Should we accept Nietzsche’s claim that ‘only that which has no history can be defined’?
  • If ‘slaves’ are as pathetic as Nietzsche depicts them to be, then how did it happen that slave morality triumphed over master morality?
  • Why does Nietzsche think we must ‘become’ who we ‘are’? Is this doctrine coherent?

Thanks to Fearghus Horan and Colette Olive for help with this page.

  1. The section numbers for this and the previous section were added in the second (B) edition and are rather confusing, so I leave them out here, sticking with the first (A) edition where possible. I have also varied the level of detail quite haphazardly to make the outline more readable and fit for the exam questions. ↩︎