Examines Kant’s notion of causality in contrast to both Hume and Leibniz.
Transcendental idealism is founded on the concept of the a priori. Few claims in philosophical history have encouraged as wide and vigorous a debate as this one idea. The a priori nature of causality has been the most cited example, and this paper takes a view of the playing field. Not only is Kant’s theory of causality explained with care, but the paper also investigates how Kant stands in reference to traditional (“dogmatic”) metaphysics, notably that of Leibniz and also to his powerful contemporary, David Hume; with whom Kant had one eye on when writing “The Critique”.
“Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is largely a response to popular philosophy of the time. This is true of Leibniz (and Wolff’s) “dogmatic metaphysics”, but also true of the psychological approach of the British empiricists. The most resolute of these, in Kant’s mind, was David Hume, and Kant’s response to Hume’s treatment of causality is worthy of further examination.”