ABSTRACT
Immanuel Kant directly addresses metaphysical claims in the Transcendental Dialectic. In calling this a dialectic, Kant is drawing on Aristotle’s distinction between demonstrative reasoning and dialectical reasoning, the latter of which uses apparently good argument forms but bases its premises on mere opinion. Kant defines dialectic as “a critique of understanding and reason as regards their hyperphysical use”. In the Transcendental Dialectic, Kant shows why reason cannot justifiably make these inferences and explains how these metaphysical questions ought properly to be addressed. Kant uses his conclusion concerning the limits of inner sense and its distinction from transcendental apperception to criticize rational psychology, which is typified by Descartes. Without contradiction, Kant can both assert that all natural events are causally determined and that freedom from prior empirical constraints is possible. Kant’s transcendental idealism thus resolves the antinomy of pure reason and allows for the compatibility of freedom and determinism.
