Epistemological value from the viewpoint of Kant: A Presentation and Critique

Saleh Mohammed Allawi

Abstract
The main theme that occupied Kant's mind was the value of knowledge, and by that we mean the rationale for characterizing a proposition with validity and universality in the sense of necessity. For this reason, Kant distinguished the analytical knowledge from synthetic knowledge, as he believes that the relationship between the subject and the predicate is either inclusive or not. In the former sense, the assent would be immediate and coercive, the statement is called analytical, and in the latter sense, the assent would need a mediator, the proposition being synthetic. The mediator, as he believes, is time and space. So, the knowledge to be universal and necessary needs to come under sheer concepts called categories. After that, the rationale for the division of propositions into analytical and synthetic is discussed, and it has been shown that Kant has been oblivious to the intrinsic relationship via essential predicate or essential accident. Similarly, the rationale for the validity of propositions due to the description of universality and necessity is discussed. At last, it has been stated that Kant has overlooked an important point in the logic, and that is the fact that the predicates in the demonstration must be essentials or essential accidents.

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)