Books

Sammelband of first editions of two very scarce pre-critical works, bound with a much later reprint. Warda 21 & 26, Adickes 32 & 34. 'In 1762-3 Kant produced in rapid succession four writings which, although they seem at first glance to deal with rather divergent subjects, are in fact strongly interconnected. The first is Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund zu einer Demonstration des Daseins Gottes (1762). His second writing bears the title Die falsche Spitzfindigkeit der vier syllogistische Figuren. This short treatise is of importance here especially because it concludes with a more general appraisal of the connection between concepts, judgments, and syllogisms. Third we have Uber die Deutlichkeit. Finally, there appeared also in 1763 a fourth work, Versuch den Begriff der negativen Großen in die Weltweisheit einzuführen. In this writing Kant argues that metaphysics "seeks to discover the nature of space and establish the ultimate principles, in terms of which its possibility can be understood"; it ought therefore to provide a fundamental account of the results of mathematics and dynamics as well. Kant states here also that the relation of cause and effect cannot be reduced to the (logical) principium identitatis. This insight compels him to introduce a distinction between logical ground and real ground (Realgrund). The need to separate these two kinds of ground from each other marks the beginning of a crisis in Kant's thought that ultimately will only be resolved with the introduction of a distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments' (Willem R. de Jong, 'How Is Metaphysics as a Science Possible? Kant on the Distinction between Philosophical and Mathematical Method', Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 49, No. 2, 1995, 238-9). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 3 works in one volume, small 8vo, 35; [viii], 72; [ii], 110 pp., contemporary speckled boards with two paper labels, spine worn, uniform light age-toning, start of the third text with a waterstain in outer top corner, underlining on just one page, no stamps or inscriptions, generally very good copies.

A critical examination of the four syllogistic figures by Immanuel Kant, originally published in 1762.