[BOOK][B] Kantian humility: Our ignorance of things in themselves

R Langton - 1998 - books.google.com
1998books.google.com
Rae Langton offers a new interpretation and defense of Kant's doctrine of things in
themselves. Kant distinguishes things in themselves from phenomena, and in so doing he
makes a metaphysical distinction between intrinsic and relational properties of substances.
Langton argues that his claim that we have no knowledge of things in themselves is not
idealism, but epistemic humility: we have no knowledge of the intrinsic properties of
substances. This interpretation vindicates Kant's scientific realism, and shows his …
Rae Langton offers a new interpretation and defense of Kant's doctrine of things in themselves. Kant distinguishes things in themselves from phenomena, and in so doing he makes a metaphysical distinction between intrinsic and relational properties of substances. Langton argues that his claim that we have no knowledge of things in themselves is not idealism, but epistemic humility: we have no knowledge of the intrinsic properties of substances. This interpretation vindicates Kant's scientific realism, and shows his primary/secondary quality distinction to be superior even to modern-day competitors. And it answers the famous charge that Kant's tale of things in themselves is one that makes itself untellable.
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