The Transcendental Method

The methodology in Kant's philosophy is a very important element in his philosophical system, which is a key to disclosing the secret of his philosophy. This dissertation aims to clarify the connotation of the transcendental doctrine of method, which is supposed to be the methodology of Kant's philosophy, and to detect its relation to Kant's critical philosophy. In the introduction, based on analyzing Kant's text about the methodology of his philosophy, according to the three kinds of character of his methodology, i.e. its criticalness, its transcendence and its formal regulations,We consider Kant's methodology of his philosophy as a kind of regulations about those formal elements which is about the complete system of the knowledge of pure reason, i.e. the transcendental doctrine of method. The main body of this dissertation take the text titled with transcendental doctrine of method in Critique of Pure Reason as an object to be analyzed .According to the"discipline"(Disziplin),"canon"(Kanon) and"architectonic"(Archtektonik) in the text, We generalize the methodology of Kant's philosophy as a concrete prescript of the application of the pure reason to establish the Idea and systems. Further, we will clarify this concrete prescript into three parts of the application of pure reason, i.e. its positivity, its negativity and its constructive.In chapter 1, we date back the development of the methodology of Kant's philosophy, and do an exact discrimination of the texts referring his methodology from his mature philosophy. Drawing on this, we cut out the general boundary of the texts which we will concentrate our minds on. Then, we clarify the concrete connotation of the methodology of Kant's philosophy. Meanwhile we will point out the innovation and the essence character of Kant's methodology. Under the theoretical presupposition of the epistemological turn in modern philosophy, Kant thought it is more crucial to detect and criticize the deterministic basis of the scientific system of knowledge before establishing it, otherwise, it will fall into dogmatism which will make the building of knowledge lack of stable ground and cause it collapse. So in this sense, the first character of the revolutionary of Kant's methodology will embody in its critical element. He wins the basis of the objectivity and certainty of the knowledge by means of criticizing the cognitive ability of the subject and takes it as the principle of his methodology. So obviously he set the stable basis of knowledge on criticizing the subject's function (Funktion), which means to draw the objectivity of knowledge on the subjectivity of subject, and then he built up a system of knowledge from this basis. Kant called this philosophy as transcendental philosophy (Transzendental-Philosophie). In this manner, kant transformed Aristotle's theory of categories into a kind of new essential logical theory—transcendental logic. Kant's methodology took this logical element into itself, which is the second revolutionary of his methodology. that is to say, the logical rules that the Kant's methodology obeyed isn't the formal logic established by Aristotle any more, but is the pricipl of trancendental philosophy. Just in this meaning, Kant called his methodology as transcendental methodology (Transzendentale- Methodenlehre).The third character of the methodology of Kant's philosophy is that it is only a formal one, not including the concrete content and object of knowdge. The methodology in this sense is a general series of rules and a general priciple that all kinds of systematic knowledge should abey. By doing this, we get a clear understanding about the content and connotation of Kant's methodology, and dividing it into three parts: its positivity, its negativity and its constructive.In chapter 2, we make a research on the application of pure reason, which is the negative part of the methodology of Kant's philosophy. In doing this ,we not only deal with the formal regulations of the application of pure reason, i.e.the discipline of pure reason in Kant's word, but also deal with the content of this application, which concerns the speculative application of pure reason. This specualtice application of pure reason , by means of dialectics which is the element of trancendental logic, illustrates the possible object that the pure reason may achieve in the realm of theory, which is the Idea established in the form of illusion. We will discuss this theme in two parts in order to get a better understanding of the negative part of the application of pure reason.By doing this, we could get a better understanding of the connotation of the discipline,too.In chapter 3, we make a research on the positive part-in opposite to the negative discipline part-of Kant's methodology. Concrete saying, it is a regulation about the positive priciple the pure reason take to comprehend the Idea and to build his philosophical system, and the lawful horizon when it do that. In Kant's terminology, such priciple is named as"the canon of pure reason", specifically saying, it is the moral law in our moral practice. It is through the analysis of the canon of pure reason that we could discriminate the area that pure reason acts in, that we could discriminate the existential basis that pure reason relys on, and that we could discriminate the kind of knowldge the Idea established which take it as priciple. And also, it is these things that constitute the regulations on the positive method that the application of pure reason obeys.It is just because of it that the pure reason can establish the regulations and the form of its ideal object in the practical realm, and then work correctly.In chapter 4, we make an analysis about the constructive part of Kant's methodology, i.e."the architectonic of pure reason". By investigating the principle of the Idea inner the architectonic of pure reason and the philosophical system it establishes, we get a clear idea about the principle of the application of it. We also arrive at a formal regulation of it. Besides this, we further explain and analyze the schema by means of which the Idea could realize itself. Just these constitute the content of the constructive part of Kant's transcendental methodology which takes the art of architecture of pure reason as its object.Finally, we arrive at a conclusion which isn't limited to clarify the connotations and the regulations of the methodology of Kant's philosophy, but extending to disclose the secret of the system of Kant's philosophy in advantage of his methodology. The form and the structure of his critical philosophy and the transcendental philosophy basing on it both take transcendental methodology as prerequisite. The principle of them lies in the transcendental methodology. Further more, this kind of methodology as a idea of method by means of which to build a general system of knowledge also is the formal principle and basis of the other methodology.In concluding, basing on the analysis of the texts concerning about Kant's methodology and the analysis of its character, We consider Kant's methodology of his philosophy as a kind of regulations about those formal elements which is about the complete system of the knowledge of pure reason. In doing this, we focus our minds mainly on the text named"Transcendental Methodology"in Critique of Pure Reason. In parallel with the three parts of the application of pure reason, i.e. the"discipline","canon", and"architectonic", we detect the connotation of the methodology of Kant's philosophy in three segments, i.e. the positivity, the negativity and the constructively of the application of pure reason. So, we explore what the applications of the pure reason really do in establishing the Idea and in building architecture of knowledge. Concreting saying, we push forward our research following directions as follows: 1, what kind of method couldn't be invocated, in what areas the method couldn't be applied to.2, how it could be used, and what canons it obeys. 3, what kind of approach it takes to build the scientific system of pure reason. Just by the detailed exploration and analysis about these questions, we finally get a clear understanding of what the connotation of the methodology of Kant's philosophy is.