The Unity of Reason: Rereading Kant

About this book

The Unity of Reason is the first major study of Kants account of reason. It argues that Kants wide-ranging interests and goals can only be understood by redirecting attention from epistemological questions of his work to those concerning the nature of reason. Rather than accepting a notion of reason given by his predecessors a fundamental aim of Kants philosophy is to reconceive the nature of reason. This enables us to understand Kants insistence on the unity of theoretical and practical reason as well as his claim that his metaphysics was driven by practical and political ends. Neiman begins by discussing the historical roots of Kants conception of reason and by showing Kants solution to problems which earlier conceptions left unresolved. Kants notion of reason itself is examined through a discussion of all the activities Kant attributes to reason. In separate chapters discussing the role of reason in science morality religion and philosophy Neiman explores Kants distinctions between reason and knowledge and his difficult account of the regulative principles of reason. Through examination of these principles in Kants major and minor writings The Unity of Reason provides a fundamentally new perspective on Kants entire work.