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Kant On The Categories

Kant's Table of Categories outlines the relationship between different types of judgments and corresponding categories of the mind, including quantity, quality, relation, and modality. It discusses the nature of judgments such as categorical and hypothetical, and how they relate to concepts like causality and substance. Kant's analysis raises questions about the derivation of categories and their connection to empirical and rationalist thought.

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David Lockwood
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26 views2 pages

Kant On The Categories

Kant's Table of Categories outlines the relationship between different types of judgments and corresponding categories of the mind, including quantity, quality, relation, and modality. It discusses the nature of judgments such as categorical and hypothetical, and how they relate to concepts like causality and substance. Kant's analysis raises questions about the derivation of categories and their connection to empirical and rationalist thought.

Uploaded by

David Lockwood
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Kant’s Table of Categories

JUDGEMENTS (of LOGIC) Kant’s Example CATEGORIES (of the MIND)

I Judgements of Quantity I Categories of Quantity

Universal All humans are mortal Unity

Particular Some humans are mortal Plurality

Singular Socrates is mortal Totality

II Judgements of Quality II Categories of Quality

Affirmative All humans are mortal Reality

Negative The soul is not mortal Negative

Infinite The soul is non-mortal Limitation

III Judgements of Relation III Categories of Relation

Categorical All humans are mortal Substance (Of inherence and


subsistence)

Hypothetical If there is a perfect justice, Causality (Of causality and


[then] the obstinately dependence)
wicked are punished

Disjunctive The world exists either Of community (reciprocity between


through blind chance, or agent and patient)
through inner necessity, or
through an external cause

IV Judgements of Modality IV Categories of Modality

Problematic There is perfect justice Possibility – Impossibility

Assertoric If there is a perfect justice, Existence - Non-existence


[then] the obstinately
wicked are punished

Apodictic The world exists…through Necessity - Contingency


inner necessity
(a) What is Kant's 'transcendental clue'?

(b) What does Kant propose is the relationship between ‘unity’, ‘plurality’ and ‘totality’?

(c) What is the relationship between hypothetical judgements and the concept of
causality?

(d) What does Kant’s analysis of the categories tell us about his relationship to
empiricism and rationalism?

Suppose I examine this table and conclude ‘This table is brown’. What kinds of logical
judgements am I making?

According to Kant, I make a CATEGORICAL JUDGEMENT,


a UNIVERSAL JUDGEMENT OF QUANTITY,
an AFFIRMATIVE JUDGEMENT OF QUALITY
and an ASSERTORIC JUDGEMENT OF MODALITY

Suppose I now I make the judgement ‘This table will burn if I pour paraffin over it and
set it alight’. What kind of logical judgements am I making?

I am making a HYPOTHETICAL JUDGEMENT

How are the categories derived from the logical forms? Körner suggests that

The Empirical Judgement minus the Perceptual Judgement = the Category

Problems with Kant’s derivation of the Categories (A) General Problems

Kant tries to justify the categories as a priori pure concepts of the understanding ( a
philosophical task) on the grounds that they are derived from the way we actually make
judgements. But understanding how we make judgements is a psychological task? And
why should the concepts of logic and those of experience tie up?

(B) Specific problems

(1) The claim that substances have attributes


(2) We cannot always derive the category of substance from categorical judgements
(3) A category can be applied without a corresponding judgement having been made
(4) The distinction between Negative and Infinite judgements
(5) Hypothetical ‘If…then’ statements

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