Accessing Kant: A Relaxed Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason

by Jay F. Rosenberg

Jay Rosenberg introduces Immanuel Kant's masterwork, the Critique of Pure Reason , from a "relaxed" problem-oriented perspective which treats Kant as an especially insightful practicing philosopher, from whom we still have much to learn, intelligently and creatively responding to significant questions that transcend his work's historical setting. Rosenberg's main project is to command a clear view of how Kant understands various perennial problems, how he attempts to resolve them, and to what extent he succeeds. At the same time the book is an introduction to the challenges of reading the text of Kant's work and, to that end, selectively adopts a more rigorous historical and exegetical stance. Accessing Kant will be an invaluable resource for advanced students and for any scholar seeking Rosenberg's own distinctive insights into Kant's work.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2005

About the author

Jay F. Rosenberg was the author of many philosophy books, articles, and textbooks, and was a professor of philosophy at University of North Carolina: Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate, he wrote a students' cookbook which is still in print at the Reed College bookstore (his alma mater).

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosenberg clearly ran into a deadline before he could finish this, lol. It gets less and less detailed before ending at the four antinomies, roughly two-thirds of the way through the Critique of Pure Reason.

[IWB · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the subtitle of this book is "A Relaxed Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason," this introduction is not aimed at the philosophically uninitiated. I'd say the intended audience is for the upper level undergraduate and first year graduate student.

This work is less a close exegetical analysis of the text of the first critique (though portions of the text are closely examined), and more a rigorous explication of how Kant approached various perennial philosophical problems, formulated them and attempted to solve them. Rosenberg wants us to view Kant "as a praticing philosopher who is much smarter than us and consequently is capable of teaching us a great number of interesting things" (pg.2 Introduction). With this in mind, Rosenberg's project is to bring to light what we can learn from Kant's treatment of those philosophical problems and how his treatment bears on contemporary philosophical problems.

And it's pretty clear that, indeed, Kant is a lot smarter than us.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better and more engaging companions to the first Critique.