Kant's Theory of Knowledge ─ An Analytical Introduction

The Critique of Pure Reason is Kant's acknowledged masterpiece, in which he tackles the question of how we can possibly have knowledge that does not rest on experience (a priori knowledge). The first half of the Critique advances a constructive theory of human cognition and defends the possibility of human knowledge against the skeptical empiricism of Hume. These sections of the Critique are difficult for beginners and for advanced students alike. While there exist many scholarly works discussing the Critique on an advanced level, this book is explicitly designed to be read alongside the text by first-time readers of Kant. Dicker makes Kant's views and arguments as accessible as possible without oversimplifying them, and synthesizes the views of contemporary scholars. Kant's Theory of Knowledge will be useful to both undergraduate and graduate students struggling with this notoriously difficult yet deeply influential thinker.

Georges Dicker is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Philosophic Exchange at SUNY Brockport. He is the author of Dewey's Theory of Knowing (1976), Perceptual Knowledge: An Analytical and Historical Study (1980), Descartes: An Analytical and Historical Introduction (1993), Hume's Epistemology and Metaphysics: An Introduction (1998), and numerous journal articles.