Saturday, May 17, 2008

Kant- how is pure mathematics possible?

In Kant's book, in the section of how is pure mathematics possible, Kant explains how mathematics is a priori. He says that it can be based on tuition. Kant does well with proving his point. In ways I agree ith Kant. It is intuitive to say 2+2=4. It is a very basic form of math, that we learned in kindergarten. If you are asked 2+2=?, after 15 years of knowing the correct answer, one will be able to intuitively answer this correctly. Kant says this is true for a few things. Mathmatics, Geometry and also some laws in nature which have not yet been disproven. Things like gravity. We do not wake up every morning and hope that our feet will stick on the ground. It is intuitive that while getting out of bed, putting our feet on the ground, and standing up, we will stick to the floor and be able to walk and ocntinue to walk and do as we please. It is intuitive that we will not float. These re some ideas that Kant describes as a priori.

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