Books

First edition of Kant's only work in the field of formal logic, a critique of traditional scholastic syllogisms. This short essay from his pre-Critical period is scarce in commerce: we trace one copy only at auction. Kant's philosophical work in the 1760s increasingly criticised the very possibility of traditional metaphysics. The falsche Spitzfindigkeit introduces this scepticism and focuses on the structure of Aristotelian logic. By challenging the traditional organisation of knowledge, Kant "prepared the ground for the later 'metaphysical deduction' of the categories in the first Critique" (Beiser, p. 38). OCLC records three copies only in North American institutions. Small octavo (156 x 97 mm). Recently bound to style in contemporary mottled paper, edges red. Engraved headpieces, tail pieces, and vignette to title page. Light rubbing, minor browning and foxing to contents, a couple of chips to margins: a very good copy. Adickes 32; Warda 21. Frederic C. Beiser, "Kant's intellectual development: 1746-1781", in Paul Guyer, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Kant, 1992.

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