Transcendental arguments
Encyclopedia
A transcendental argument is a deductive philosophical argument which takes a manifest feature of experience as granted, and articulates that which must be the case so that experience as such is possible. Although they said to be "deductive," transcendental arguments may have additional standards of validity
that differ from those of traditional deductive arguments.
Citing the work of philosopher Charles Taylor
(following Martin Heidegger
), Nikolas Kompridis
has suggested that transcendental arguments are a type of world-disclosing argument.
, usually about the reality of the external world or other minds.
So called progressive transcendental arguments begin with an apparently indubitable and universally accepted statement about people's experiences of the world, and use this to make substantive knowledge-claims about the world, e.g., that it is causally and spatiotemporally related. They start with what is left at the end of the skeptics process of doubting.
Regressive transcendental arguments, on the other hand, begin at the same point as the skeptic, e.g., the fact that we have experience as of a causal and spatiotemporal world, and show that certain notions are implicit in our conceptions of such experience. Regressive transcendental arguments are more conservative in that they do not purport to make substantive ontological claims about the world.
An example is used by Kant in his refutation of idealism. Idealists believe that the experience of objects independent of our mind is not legitimate. Briefly, Kant shows that
He has not established that outer objects exist, but only that the concept of them is legitimate, contrary to idealism
.
Not all use of transcdental arguments are intended to counter skepticism, however. The Dutch philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd , used transcendental critique to establish the conditions that make a theoretical attitude of thought (not just the process of thinking, as in Kant) possible. In particular, he showed that theoretical thought can never be neutral but is always, necessarily based on presuppositions that are religious in nature.
who gave transcendental arguments their name and notoriety. It is controversial, though, whether his own transcendental arguments should be classified as progressive or regressive.
In the Critique of Pure Reason
Kant developed one of philosophy's most famous transcendental arguments in 'The Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding'. In the 'Transcendental Aesthetic', Kant used transcendental arguments to show that sensory experiences would not be possible apart from our contributing to them their spatial and temporal form.
Stephen Palmquist has argued that Kant used a type of argument very similar to a transcendental argument to defend his controversial claim, in Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason (1793), that all human beings are susceptible to an evil propensity at the outset of their decision making.
Validity
In logic, argument is valid if and only if its conclusion is entailed by its premises, a formula is valid if and only if it is true under every interpretation, and an argument form is valid if and only if every argument of that logical form is valid....
that differ from those of traditional deductive arguments.
Citing the work of philosopher Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...
(following Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
), Nikolas Kompridis
Nikolas Kompridis
Nikolas Kompridis is a professor at the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy at the University of Western Sydney. His scholarly work addresses a wide range of subjects in contemporary social and political philosophy, as well as in aesthetics and philosophy of culture...
has suggested that transcendental arguments are a type of world-disclosing argument.
Transcendental arguments explained
Typically, a transcendental argument starts from some accepted aspect of experience, and then deduces what must be true for that type of experience to be possible. Transcendental arguments are often used as arguments against skepticismSkepticism
Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
, usually about the reality of the external world or other minds.
So called progressive transcendental arguments begin with an apparently indubitable and universally accepted statement about people's experiences of the world, and use this to make substantive knowledge-claims about the world, e.g., that it is causally and spatiotemporally related. They start with what is left at the end of the skeptics process of doubting.
Regressive transcendental arguments, on the other hand, begin at the same point as the skeptic, e.g., the fact that we have experience as of a causal and spatiotemporal world, and show that certain notions are implicit in our conceptions of such experience. Regressive transcendental arguments are more conservative in that they do not purport to make substantive ontological claims about the world.
An example is used by Kant in his refutation of idealism. Idealists believe that the experience of objects independent of our mind is not legitimate. Briefly, Kant shows that
- since idealists acknowledge that we have an inner mental life, and
- an inner life of self awareness is bound up with the concepts of objects which are not inner, and which interact causally,
- then we must have legitimate experience of outer objects which interact causally.
He has not established that outer objects exist, but only that the concept of them is legitimate, contrary to idealism
Idealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
.
Not all use of transcdental arguments are intended to counter skepticism, however. The Dutch philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd , used transcendental critique to establish the conditions that make a theoretical attitude of thought (not just the process of thinking, as in Kant) possible. In particular, he showed that theoretical thought can never be neutral but is always, necessarily based on presuppositions that are religious in nature.
Kant
It was Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
who gave transcendental arguments their name and notoriety. It is controversial, though, whether his own transcendental arguments should be classified as progressive or regressive.
In the Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgement...
Kant developed one of philosophy's most famous transcendental arguments in 'The Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding'. In the 'Transcendental Aesthetic', Kant used transcendental arguments to show that sensory experiences would not be possible apart from our contributing to them their spatial and temporal form.
Stephen Palmquist has argued that Kant used a type of argument very similar to a transcendental argument to defend his controversial claim, in Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason (1793), that all human beings are susceptible to an evil propensity at the outset of their decision making.
Criticisms of transcendental arguments
As stated above, one of the main uses of transcendental arguments is to use one thing we can know, the nature of our experiences, to counter skeptics' arguments that we cannot know something or other about the nature of the world. One need not be a skeptic about those matters, however, to find transcendental arguments unpersuasive. There are a number of ways that one might deny that a given transcendental argument gives us knowledge of the world. The following responses may suit some versions and not others.- First, critics respond by claiming that the arguer cannot be sure that he is having particular experiences. That a person cannot be sure about the nature of his or her own experiences may initially seem bizarre. However, it may be claimed that the very act of thinking about or, even more, describing our experiences in words, involves interpreting them in ways that go beyond so-called 'pure' experience.
- Second, skeptics object to the use of transcendental arguments to draw conclusions about the nature of the world by claiming that even if a person does know the nature of his or her experiences, the person cannot know that the reasoning from these experiences to conclusions about the world is accurate.
- Lastly, critics have debated whether showing that we must think of the world in a certain way, given certain features of experience, is tantamount to showing that the world answers to that conception. Perhaps transcendental arguments show only necessities of our cognitive apparatus rather than realities of the world apart from us. This objection may amount to throwing doubt on whether transcendental arguments are ever more than merely "regressive".