Kant's Critical Imagination
The Logic of Schematism
Examines the turning point in modern philosophy in which Kant overcomes previous philosophical systems through his theory of imagination
- Systematically provides a novel account of Kant’s critical philosophy
- Critically engages with both primary source material and secondary commentary in innovative ways
- Connects a wide range of arguments in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics
- Provides a robust account of Kant’s theory of imagination
What is the relationship between philosophy and imagination? Cody Staton claims that Kant’s decision to describe the imagination as mediating between the self and the world created an irrevocable philosophical standpoint. For Kant, since the imagination assists all the powers of the mind, it plays a critical role in the function of all philosophy. This applies to our ideas of God, the soul, the beauty that we experience in nature, the creation and enjoyment of art, and the very idea of life itself.
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations of Kant’s Works
Introduction: A Schema for Philosophy
0.1 Reception
0.2 Structure
Chapter 1. Imagination: Critical Beginnings, 1770–81
1.1 Imagination in German Rationalism: Wolff and Baumgarten
1.2 Hume’s Theory of Imagination and its Influence on Kant’s Critique
Chapter 2. Schematism as Catalyst to Critical Philosophy
2.1 Time and Coordination in the Dissertation
2.2 Kant’s Development of Time-Determination in the Duisburg Nachlaß
2.3 Tetens’s Critique of Kant on Space and Time
2.4 Imagination and Time in the A-Deduction
2.5 The Categories and Their Relation to Time
Chapter 3. Transcendental Schematism
3.1 Imagination, Time, and Inner Sense
3.2 The Schema of Quantity
3.3 The Schema of Quality
3.4 The Schemata of Relation
3.5 The Schemata of Modality
3.6 Final Remarks
Chapter 4. Empirical and Mathematical Schematism
4.1 Mathematical Schematism
4.2 Kant’s Dog: Empirical Schematism
4.3 Time-Images: Empirical Schematism as Image Production
4.4 Empirical Schematism as Concept Formation
Chapter 5. Imagination and Transcendental Objects
5.1 The Concept of an Object As Such (= X)
5.2 Transcendental Illusion and the Ideas of Reason
5.3 Kant’s Account of Illusion: The focus imaginarius from Dreams to the First Critique
5.4 Reason’s Imaginary Focus and the Transcendental Object
5.5 Reason’s Regulative Pursuit of Imaginary Ideas
Chapter 6. Reflective Schematism: Imagination in Aesthetics and Teleology
6.1 Aesthetic Schematism and The Free Play of the Faculties
6.2 The Aesthetic Promotion of Cognition: From Imitation to Emulation and Evaluation
6.3 The “Failure” of Schematism in the Encounter with the Sublime
6.4 Organized Artists of Nature: Imagination and Teleological Judgment
Chapter 7: Moral Schematism: Imagination and Practical Reason
7.1 Moral Schematism
7.2 Imagining What I May Hope For
Conclusion: Philosophy as Imagining Nature a Second Time
Index
One must warmly welcome Cody Staton’s book on Kant for giving full attention to the role of imagination throughout the entire range of Kant’s critical philosophy. It is written lucidly, intelligently and with impressive knowledge of Kant’s corpus. It helpfully communicates the importance of the schematism as transcendental, as empirical and mathematical, as reflection relative to aesthetics and teleology, as moral in relation to practical reason and imagining hope. A signal excellence of the book is that, in gathering together the different senses of the schematism, it offers an illuminating perspective on Kant’s philosophy as a whole. Warmly recommended.
