Course Texts:
    Required:  Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason (Kemp Smith translation)
                    Roger Scruton, Kant: A Very Short Introduction
    Recommended: Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, time permitting
 

Course Description:

This is a course in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (hereafter referred to as the first Critique or CPR).  This book is without question one of the most influential works in all of Western philosophy.  During the semester, you will acquire an understanding of Kant’s epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and, hopefully, ethics.  This will provide you with an excellent foundation for further Kant studies and also for studying much of post-Kantian philosophy.  In fact, Kant’s influence on philosophy is so widespread that it is difficult to fully grasp the course of philosophy in the 19th and 20th Centuries without having grappled with his work.  Studying Kant requires one to tackle question that are most central to philosophy.  If you take seriously the task of understanding Kant, you will not only have a better understanding of philosophical ideas and arguments, you will also become a better philosopher.

Course Objectives:

The primary objective of this course is to help you increase your ability to understand and discuss philosophical issues in a sophisticated and intelligent manner (and there is nothing quite like reading a philosopher of the first rank to help you do this).  Our specific goals will be twofold: (1) to develop an understanding of the arguments in the first Critique and (2) to emerge from the course with our wits intact.  Time permitting, we will close the course by examining the structural parallels between Kant’s first Critique and the third section of the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.

Course Grading:
    Bi-weekly essays (2-3 pages):         25%     (Due every other Monday)
    Midterm:                                         20%     (Roughly the week of Feb. 12)
    Paper topic approval:                        5%     (Due by March 12-13)
    Paper (roughly 10-12 pages):          25%     (Due the last day of class)
    Final exam:                                     25%

As you can see, there are a relatively large number of assignments in this course.  This is designed for your benefit.  Kant is best approached in small doses.  Having assignments continually due will allow you to more slowly digest the arguments than if you had fewer assignments covering larger sections of the text.

You are required to turn in (by March 12-13) a formal paper proposal.  I will comment on whatever you turn in even if it is a complete draft of your paper; however, at minimum your proposal should include a thesis statement and an outline of your intended argument.  A verbal approval of a paper topic is not sufficient.  Your topic will not be considered approved until it has my written endorsement.  If you are having trouble coming up with a topic, please come see me so I can help you with your choice.

A note on reading the Critique of Pure Reason:

It is nearly impossible to overestimate the difficulty of reading Kant’s work.  The first Critique is likely to require more attention than any text you have previously encountered.  Furthermore, in order to get through the entire text, we will be moving at a fairly good rate of speed.  It is essential that you keep up with the readings.  If you get behind, you will be unable to catch up.  Some difficult and central passages may need to be read and re-read many times over before the meaning will become clear.  Be prepared to devote more time than normal to your reading assignments.  It will help if you take notes and try to identify the main argument in each reading.  I am likely to assign essay topics that require you to interpret difficult passages.  Reading these passages carefully in anticipation of class discussion will save you a great deal of time and effort when it comes to writing your essays.

All pages for the first Critique are listed from the Kemp Smith translation (if you have another translation, I have a copy of Kemp Smith’s Table of Contents, which will allow you to see which pages in your text correspond to Kemp Smith).  I have listed the pages you should read, then I list (in bold print) the pages that are essential to read.  This still leaves a large amount of reading, but it should give you an idea about where to focus your attention.
 

Course Outline: The schedule is tentative, especially for some of the most difficult sections of Kant’s work.  Please come to class for specific reading assignments.

Week 1: Scruton, Kant: A Very Short Introduction (all)
Week 2: Critique of Pure Reason, Preface and Introduction (pp. 7-62, sorry it’s all important)
Week 3: CPR, Transcendental Aesthetic and Transcendental Logic (pp. 65-101; 65-82 and 92-99)
Week 4: CPR, Analytic of Concepts (i.e., Metaphysical Deduction) and A-Deduction (pp. 102-150; 104-115 and 129-150)
Week 5: CPR, B-Deduction (pp. 151-175; 151-165 and 173-175)
Week 6: CPR, Analytic of Principles: Schematism and System of All Principles…. (pp. 176-208; 176-187 and 191-194)
Week 7: CPR, Analogies of Experience (including the Refutation of Idealism), (pp. 208-256; 208-238 and 245-247)
Week 8: CPR, Transcendental Dialectic: Introduction and Concept of Pure Reason (pp. 297-326; 297-307)
Week 9: CPR, Paralogisms and Antinomies (pp. 327-421; 386-393 and 396-421)
Week 10: CPR, Antinomies, cont. (pp. 422-484; 422-435)
SPRING BREAK
Week 11: CPR, Ideal of Pure Reason (pp. 485-572; 485-495 and 532-570)
Week 12: CPR, Transcendental Doctrine of Method: Discipline of Pure Reason (pp. 573-628)
Week 13: CPR, Transcendental Doctrine of Method: The Canon of Pure Reason (629-670; 629-652)
Week 14: Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Third Section
Week 15: Review
 

Course Structure:

While this class is formally a lecture-based course, you will only understand this material if you are actively engaged with it through class discussion. What this means is that each student should be prepared to talk about the topic/reading for the day.  Even by philosophical standards, reading Kant is difficult.  I can guarantee that each of you will come to each class confused about and struggling with the reading.  No one finds Kant easy to understand.  Our goal as a class will be to work through our confusions together.  (Lest you think I’m kidding by saying we will work through our confusions together, let me say that anyone who can clearly explain in ordinary terms what Kant means when he says space and time are a priori intuitions or can elucidate a priori synthetic judgments will earn an automatic A for the course).  The success of the course will depend on you and your willingness to put the effort into understanding Kant.

Class Attendance:

Because of the difficulty of the material, your attendance at each class is expected.  Showing up for class is the bare minimum necessary to grasp this material.  If you miss class, you will be at a distinct disadvantage and will have a much more difficult time writing your papers.  In addition to just showing up, you should have read through the material carefully (more than once is preferable, and I will require this for particularly difficult sections such as the Transcendental Deduction).

Your papers must reflect an understanding of class discussions, and I will keep track of attendance.  Those of you who show up to class and regularly participate will earn a greater “benefit of the doubt” when I grade your papers (in other words, those who regularly miss class will likely have to work harder to demonstrate their understanding of the material).  As an added incentive, if you miss no more than three classes, I will add two points to your final course grade.

Miscellaneous Information:

Academic misconduct (plagiarism, cheating, etc.) will result in no credit for the assignment in question and may lead to the assignment of an F for the course.  I may also refer cases of academic misconduct to the University Judicial Board.  Academic misconduct is a serious matter, and I will take action if I discover academic misconduct.

UAH is committed to the fundamental values of preserving academic honesty as defined in the Student Handbook (7.III.A). The instructor reserves the right to utilize electronic means to help prevent plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all assignments are subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com.
Assignments submitted to Turnitin.com will be included as source documents in Turnitin.com's restricted access database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in such documents. The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service, as well as additional information about the company, are described at www.uah.edu/library/turnitin.

Secondary Sources:

Given the difficulty of the primary reading in the course, I am not assigning any secondary literature.  However, there are many useful commentaries and works on the Critique of Pure Reason.  You are encouraged to refer to these if you have the time and inclination to do so.  The bibliography for the course is a list of some of the better secondary sources, most of which should be available in the Salmon Library.  (I cannot guarantee the availability of all of these texts, but the library is in the process of acquiring the books on this list that are not currently in the library.)