Kant’s Theory Of Judgement: Judgements And The Power Of Judgement

Under the influence of analytical philosophy,the contemporary research on Kant’s theory of judgment mainly takes the form of analysis-that is,eliminating the so-called "psychological and metaphysical aspects" and critically interpreting specific concepts.However,so many controversies follow that they cover up the authentic value of Kant’s views on judgment.Only through a systematic and comprehensive research can the debate be cooled down,the value of Kant’s theory of judgment be demonstrated.Taking the idea of transcendental anthropology as a clue and its core problems as guidance,this study comprehensively reconstructs Kant’s theory of judgment;meanwhile,it also combines the method of diachronic and that of synchronic to track the development of Kant’s view on judgment.Under the idea of transcendental anthropology,judgments can be divided into three basic types-theoretical judgments,practical judgments and reflective judgments.The discussion of the above-mentioned three categories starts from the judgments as propositions,then goes down to the activities of judging,finally reveals the faculties of judgment which reflect human nature.Among the three kinds of judgments,theoretical ones are the basis.Although Kant is deeply influenced by Aristotle,Wolff and Meier in the field of formal logic,he revolutionarily argues for the centrality of judgment and put forward the idea of the power of judgment.As for the underlining “Herz Problem” in the concept-centered Epistemology(embodied in the "logic-metaphysics" of the rationalists),Kant advocates that it should be solved in the framework of transcendental logic,and focus on the truthness of synthetic a priori judgments.Transcendental idealism provides an overall solution to the problem.Finally,the "metaphysical possibility" of the truthness of judgments is traced back to the transcendental apperception;and the a priori power of judgment solves the problem of "methodological possibility".As regards to the practical judgments,Kant pays particular attention to moral judgments,which mainly refer to the moral imperatives as the prescribed principle of an agent’s will.Kant tries to take the moral judgment of reason as the supreme law of a top to bottom system of moral judgments,which provides a solid framework for people’s practice.The power of moral judgment plays a key role in it.It enables the supreme law to determine the real-life moral obligation commands.As for moral evaluations,Kant introduces the concept of conscience.Although conscience is regarded by him as a natural endowment,its model of court seems to imply the isomorphism between the concept itself and the moral reasoning performed by the power of moral judgment.Kant’s theory of judgment is completed not so much in reflective judgments as in the power of reflective judgment.With the disclosure of the objective illusion of aesthetic judgments and the analysis of the two activities involved in the process of making an aesthetic judgment,the "heautonomie" of reflective judgments is unveiled,which establishes the power of judgment as a higher cognitive ability and reveals higher emotional faculty of human.More importantly,with the art of beauty as the intermediary,Kant can make a transition from the power of aesthetic judgment to that of teleological judgment,so as to unify men in the world of phenomenon and men in the world of noumenon,speculative reason and practical reason,virtue and happiness.With the final question of transcendental anthropology being answered,Kant’s system of judgment has been completed.Thanks to this reconstruction,a coherent and complete Kant’s theory of judgment can be presented.It can not only better deal with the disputes arising from analytical researches,but also reveal the a priori structure of human.In this regard,Kant’s theory of judgment tells us that a human being is a being of reason,and,above all,he is an animal of judgment.