Critique of Pure Reason

“This is the greatest philosophical book of all time. This is Kant’s masterpiece…He’s interested in the limits to what we can know; he’s interested in the limits to what we can use pure reason to ascertain; he’s interested in the limits to what we can even think about. He’s interested in these limits in various different senses. On the one hand, he’s keen to approach them, to map out the limits from within by doing as much as possibly can be done through the exercise of reason; but he’s also interested in stepping up a level and looking at them from above, asking questions of principle about where these limits are to be drawn and what might lie beyond them. Of course, there’s an inevitable problem that arises there because if you’re asking questions about what lies beyond the limits of knowledge then inevitably the question arises: can you hope to know any answers to such questions? For if you claim you can, aren’t you involved in self-stultification? So, all these tensions are there throughout the Critique, and they’re part of what makes it such a fascinating read.” Read more...

The Best Immanuel Kant Books

Adrian Moore, Philosopher

“I find reading Kant a bit like understanding cricket as a foreigner: hard to get at first, but once you get it, it’s very enjoyable.” Read more...

The best books on The Philosophy of Information

Luciano Floridi, Philosopher

“An illuminating way to think of the Critique is as a kind of prolonged wrestling match with Hume.” Read more...

The best books on David Hume

Simon Blackburn, Philosopher

“All the concepts we use in thinking about the world, for example unity and causality, are only the properties of our ordinary experience. When we start thinking about things that lie beyond the bounds of our senses and try to apply these concepts to them, we get into trouble.” Read more...

The best books on Ideas that Matter

A C Grayling, Philosopher