Overview

"Immanuel Kant's enduring influence on philosophy is indisputable. In particular, Kant transformed debates on the fundamental questions in logic, and it is the significance and complexity of this accomplishment that Huaping Lu-Adler here explores. Kant's theory of logic represents a turning point in a history of philosophical debates over the following questions: Is logic a science, instrument, standard of assessment, or mixture of these?Kant's official answer to these questions centers on three distinctions: general versus particular logic; pure versus applied logic; pure general logic versus transcendental logic. The true meaning and significance of each distinction becomes clear, Lu-Adler argues, only if we consider two factors. First, Kant was mindful of various historical views on how logic relates to other branches of philosophy and to the workings of common human understanding. Second, he invented ""transcendental logic"" while struggling to secure metaphysics as a proper ""science,"" and this conceptual innovation in turn held profound implications for his mature theory of logic. Against this backdrop, Lu-Adler reassesses the place of Kant's theory in the history of philosophy of logic and highlights certain issues that are debated today, including normativity of logic and the challenges posed by logical pluralism. Kant and the Science of Logic is both a history of philosophy of logic told from the Kantian viewpoint and a reconstruction of Kant's theory of logic from a historical perspective. It is a vital contribution to the study of Kantian logic."

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9780190907136

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Huaping Lu-Adler's Kant and the Science of Logic is a welcome addition to the literature. Lu-Adler addresses the deepest issues in Kant's philosophy of logic, including questions about the formality of logic, its objectivity, and the nature of Kant's distinctions between pure and applied logic, and between general and transcendental logic. Her interpretations of the difficult Kantian texts are uniformly sensible, and her positions clearly and carefully argued. Perhaps most impressive of all is the way she locates Kant's conception of logic within its historical context, showing both what was distinctive about his positions, and how he thought they could be motivated against the historical alternatives. Given the centrality of the Kantian conception of logic to his overall philosophical ambitions, every Kant scholar will want to read this book. -- R. Lanier Anderson, J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor in Humanities, Stanford University Kant and the Science of Logic is scholarship of a high caliber. By setting Kant's view of logic in historical context, it makes a substantial contribution both to history and philosophy of logic and to our understanding of Kant's theoretical philosophy. The argument proceeds through meticulous analysis of an impressively wide range of primary texts, and the author's close readings of the passages she cites are often highly illuminating. -- Katherine Dunlop, Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin Kant and the Science of Logic offers readers a meticulously researched account that sets a new milestone for scholarly work in this area. Lu-Adler gets to the heart of Kant's endeavor with refreshing clarity: from the opening chapter on methodology to the closing discussion of Kant's relation to Aristotle's logic, the reader is led step by step through the issues, both historical and philosophical, driving Kant's account. Simply put, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Kant's theory of logic. -- Jennifer Mensch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Western Sydney University

Huaping Lu-Adler's Kant and the Science of Logic is a welcome addition to the literature. Lu-Adler addresses the deepest issues in Kant's philosophy of logic, including questions about the formality of logic, its objectivity, and the nature of Kant's distinctions between pure and applied logic, and between general and transcendental logic. Her interpretations of the difficult Kantian texts are uniformly sensible, and her positions clearly and carefully argued. Perhaps most impressive of all is the way she locates Kant's conception of logic within its historical context, showing both what was distinctive about his positions, and how he thought they could be motivated against the historical alternatives. Given the centrality of the Kantian conception of logic to his overall philosophical ambitions, every Kant scholar will want to read this book. -- R. Lanier Anderson, J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor in Humanities, Stanford University Kant and the Science of Logic is scholarship of a high caliber. By setting Kant's view of logic in historical context, it makes a substantial contribution both to history and philosophy of logic and to our understanding of Kant's theoretical philosophy. The argument proceeds through meticulous analysis of an impressively wide range of primary texts, and the author's close readings of the passages she cites are often highly illuminating. -- Katherine Dunlop, Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin Kant and the Science of Logic offers readers a meticulously researched account that sets a new milestone for scholarly work in this area. Lu-Adler gets to the heart of Kant's endeavor with refreshing clarity: from the opening chapter on methodology to the closing discussion of Kant's relation to Aristotle's logic, the reader is led step by step through the issues, both historical and philosophical, driving Kant's account. Simply put, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Kant's theory of logic. -- Jennifer Mensch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Western Sydney University

Kant and the Science of Logic offers readers a meticulously researched account that sets a new milestone for scholarly work in this area. Lu-Adler gets to the heart of Kant's endeavor with refreshing clarity: from the opening chapter on methodology to the closing discussion of Kant's relation to Aristotle's logic, the reader is led step by step through the issues, both historical and philosophical, driving Kant's account. Simply put, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Kant's theory of logic. * Jennifer Mensch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Western Sydney University * Kant and the Science of Logic is scholarship of a high caliber. By setting Kant's view of logic in historical context, it makes a substantial contribution both to history and philosophy of logic and to our understanding of Kant's theoretical philosophy. The argument proceeds through meticulous analysis of an impressively wide range of primary texts, and the author's close readings of the passages she cites are often highly illuminating. * Katherine Dunlop, Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin * Huaping Lu-Adler's Kant and the Science of Logic is a welcome addition to the literature. Lu-Adler addresses the deepest issues in Kant's philosophy of logic, including questions about the formality of logic, its objectivity, and the nature of Kant's distinctions between pure and applied logic, and between general and transcendental logic. Her interpretations of the difficult Kantian texts are uniformly sensible, and her positions clearly and carefully argued. Perhaps most impressive of all is the way she locates Kant's conception of logic within its historical context, showing both what was distinctive about his positions, and how he thought they could be motivated against the historical alternatives. Given the centrality of the Kantian conception of logic to his overall philosophical ambitions, every Kant scholar will want to read this book. * R. Lanier Anderson, J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor in Humanities, Stanford University *

Author Information

Huaping Lu-Adler is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. She specializes in Kant, early modern philosophy (with a focus on metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind), and history and philosophy of logic.

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