Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves [Paperback]

Rae Langton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2001

In this refreshing and exceptional work, Rae Langton offers a new interpretation and defense of Kant's doctrine of "things in themselves." Kant distinguishes things in themselves from phenomena, thus making a metaphysical distinction between intrinsic and relational properties of substances. Langton argues that his claim that we have no knowledge of things in themselves is not idealism, but epistemic humility; we have no knowledge of the intrinsic properties of substances. This interpretation vindicates Kant's scientific realism and shows his primary/secondary quality distinction to be superior even to modern day competitors. And it answers the famous charge that Kant's tale of things in themselves is one that makes itself untellable.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Langton's book is a significant contribution to the recent literature on Kant's idealism, and will be widely discussed."--Times Literary Supplement

"A novel attempt to elucidate and defend a central Kantian thesis....A most interesting, impressive, and scholarly exercise in Kantian interpretation"--P. F. Strawson

"This is one of the most original and thought-provoking books books on Kant to have appeared for quite some time. Its scholarship and its philosophical insight are equally impressive, and it raises philosophical questions of considerable interest for the present day. . .. . There is much to be learnt from it, and it gives us all much to think about."--Ralph C. S. Walker, Mind

"admirably clear, tightly argued... an extremely engaging and thought-provoking book."--A.W. Moore, Philosophical Review

"Unlike most recent commentators, Rae Langton argues that Kant's distinction between appearances and things in themselves is based on his metaphysical denial of the reducibility of relations rather than on his epistemological conception of a priori knowledge. She situates this controversial claim in Kant's historical context and defends it with analytical rigor. Anyone interested in the perennially fascinating subject of Kant's transcendental idealism must reckon with this distinctive and challenging work."--Paul Guyer

"I leave it to others more qualified than I am to argue about whether Langton's Kant is the historical Kant. Whether he is or not, the case he makes for our irremediable ignorance of the intrinsic properties of substances is extremely interesting and, in my opinion, something very like his conclusion is true. Langton's book makes a major contribution not only to historical scholarship but also to metaphysics and epistemology."--David Lewis

"Langton offers a fresh interpretation of Kant, the main tenets of which she states in a few bold propositions and then goes on to elaborate with great clarity and care. She supports her interpretation with a wealth of citations accompanied by insightful commentary. . . . This is a marvelous book."--Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

About the Author

Rae Langton is Professor of Philosophy at MIT. She has been affiliated with Monash University, the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University, Sheffield University, and the University of Edinburgh.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199243174
• ISBN-13: 978-0199243174
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,372,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on Kant's Metaphysics, November 11, 2002

By 

Flounder (Substitution Instance) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves (Paperback)

This is an excellent book on Kant's metaphysics (in the CPR). It is tightly argued and rigorous. The key to understanding Langton's discussion is in the subtitle: "Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves," which gives us a pretty clear indication that the traditional (Strawsonian) epistemological focus won't be explored in detail here.

I recommend reading Langton's article "Intrinsic Properties" (co-authored with David Lewis) prior to delving into this book.

Langton's thesis is that (a) 'humility' follows from (b) 'receptivity,' which is quite novel and refreshing. A similar point is made by John McDowell in Mind and World (and Sellars in S and M). If (a) follows from (b) then, as Langton argues, we can ignore K's args. on space, time, and the categories. Actually, it seems to me that a deduction of concepts would be on a parallel course with 'receptivity' talk in terms of transcendental presupposition.

The most interesting chapters are: Ch 2 [part 6 (humility), part 7 (receptivity)]; Ch 3: Substance and Phenomenal Substance; Ch 5: Kant's Rejection of Reducibility; Ch 8: Kant's 'Primary' Qualities; and most especially, Ch 9: The Observable and the Supersensible.

Langton (e.g., as Allison does) defends Kant's Transcendental Idealism on the grounds that the intrinsic properties of things are indeed unknown. Her arguments are persuasive and convincing. This book would be a good read along with Allison's K's TI (Yale UP), and the standard figures who tend to focus on epistemological concerns (Strawson, Bennett, Guyer, etc).

I also recommend the vast literature on Transcendental Arguments, esp. Stroud (1968) and (1999) in his Understanding Human Knowledge (Oxford UP); A. Brueckner on TA's (in Nous); see also R. Stern's two books on TA's (Oxford UP).

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the previous reviewer, August 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves (Hardcover)

First, and not particularly important, Rae Langton is a woman. Second, and far more important, this is a beautifully clear, original interpretation of Kant's transcendental idealism, a resource of accurate and insightful criticism of other interpretations, and a joy to read. The interpretation is exciting, but, I think basically implausible. It gives far too little weight to Kant's doctrine of synthetic a priori knowledge, and to his specific claims about space and time. For Langton, transcendental idealism is supposed to follow just from his general epistemology of receptive sensibility. I don't think that it does; but I learned an enormous amount about Kant and about metaphysics from this book. It should be reprinted in a paperback edition people can afford!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I agree - ignore first review, June 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves (Hardcover)

Klar und deutlich. Outstanding and illuminating book. However, the reviewer from Princeton is right - not enough attention paid to the epistemological motivations for the unknowability of things in themselves in the mature works, which isn't to say that the metaphysical motivations stressed by Langton are in any way incorrect or unwelcome - quite the opposite.

If you want have a go at Kant, you could hardly do better than read this exemplary book. You cannot fail to get a lot out of it.