Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks)

[The review below reports disappointment, and says that the book does not do what it was supposed to do. No doubt it fails to offer all readers what they would wish to find, but to this it must be added that there are hugely different views of what a 'guidebook' ought to supply - a quick comparison of titles in the Routledge series to which it belongs will bear this out, as will a comparison of introductions to Kant's CPR. No commentary, not even a 'guidebook' or 'introduction', should pretend that the CPR is a picnic, and if Gardner's book is over-complicated, and makes 'the severest demands', then it is hard to know what measure is being employed.]Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is difficult. Most people will need a guidebook to achieve an adequate understanding of this profound work. In my attempts to read it I took the approach of reading until I felt my understanding was becoming less than adequate, and then started reading the secondary literature. I started reading the secondary literature after reading the first sentence! Gardner's was one of the first I started to read, but quickly gave up because this book is as difficult to read as Kant. Fortunately, I did not give up but eventually found the one piece of secondary literature I needed -- "A Kant Dictionary" by Howard Caygill. Even more importantly, I found a forgiving translation (Pluhar's) which is blessed with a superb introduction. Even with these aids, Kant is very difficult, and the reader or student is not helped by convoluted, over-complicated texts like Gardner's. So although I found a couple of paragraphs in Gardner useful, I cannot give it more than one star because it fails in the main aim of a guidebook. A guidebook should help the inexperienced reader, not make the severest demands on his or her philosophical understanding. So reader beware, and use the "look inside" feature to its full extent before thinking of buying.

Kant's The Critique of Pure Reason is arguably the single most important philosophical work in Western philosophy. It is also one of the most difficult philosophical texts to study. This clear, straightforward guide to the Critique recasts Kant's thought in more familiar language, avoiding the technicalities that plague other secondary sources on Kant. Sebastian Gardner examines Kant's thought by contrasting two interpretive traditions--those of Strawson and Allison--while setting the Critique in the context of both pre-Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy. Ideal for anyone coming to Kant's thought for the first time, this accessible guide will be vital reading for all students of Kant in philosophy.

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is arguably the single most important work in western philosophy. The book introduces and assesses: * Kant's life and background of the Critique of Pure Reason * the ideas and text of the Critique of Pure Reason * the continuing relevance of Kant's work to contemporary philosophy. Ideal for anyone coming to Kant's thought for the first time. This guide will be vital reading for all students of Kant in philosophy. In the Preface to the Critique Kant observes that, although metaphysics is meant to be 'the Queen of all the sciences' (Aviii), reason in metaphysics 'is perpetually being brought to a stand' (Bxiv). This GuideBook introduces and assesses Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, arguably the single most important work in western philosophy. It is ideal for newcomers to Kant's thought.