Two models of Kantian construction

Kravanja, Aljoša (author)

According to Kant, we gain mathematical knowledge by constructing objects in pure intuition. This is true not only of geometry but arithmetic and algebra as well. Construction has prominent place in scholarly accounts of Kant’s views of mathematics. But did Kant have a clear vision of what construction is? The paper argues that Kant employed two different, even conflicting models of construction, depending on the philosophical issue he was dealing with. In the equivalence model, Kant claims that the object constructed in intuition is equivalent to the properties included in the conceptual rule. In the overstepping model of construction, Kant argues that construction goes beyond the concept which is a “mere definition”. What is more, both models of construction can be found in the Doctrine of Method in the first Critique. The paper examines reasons that have led Kant to adopt the two models of construction, and proposes a reading that alleviates the apparent contradiction between the two models.

• Language: English
• Keywords: German classical philosophy, mathematics, geometry, construction, Immanuel Kant
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 137–155
• Numbering: Vol. 4, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-151911
• UDC: 1Kant I.:514
• ISSN on article: 2626-8310
• DOI: 10.1515/jtph-2022-0013
• COBISS.SI-ID: 156915715
• Publication date in RUL: 25.10.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of transcendental philosophy
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• ISSN: 2626-8310
• COBISS.SI-ID: 156911107

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: nemška klasična filozofija, geometrija, konstrukcija, matematika