I am now working my way through the second edition version of the chapter in the Critique entitled "Deduction of the Pure Concepts of Understanding," the so-called Deduction in B. Yesterday I read the Deduction in A. For me, this is a stroll down Memory Lane. Here are all the familiar terms and arguments with which I wrestled more than half a century ago -- old friends, I feel. But as I read, a part of my mind imagines how these passages will appear to my audience, for most of whom they will be completely new, and I realize with dismay just how mysteriously difficult, nay impenetrable, they are. How on earth can I get my audience to sit still for the elaborate explanations and clarifications that will be necessary? And how many lectures will I require to do these passages justice? In the Kemp-Smith translation, the A and B Deductions run 49 pages. My discussion of them, in Kant's Theory of Mental Activity, occupies 127 pages!
I hope I have not bitten off more than they can chew.
Did you ever see the movie "Philadelphia"?
ReplyDeleteThere the defense attorney, played by Denzel Washington, asks various witnesses to explain things to him as if he were a 4 year old or a 5 year old or a 6 year old child.
That's a great strategy. By the way, 4 year old children are generally very bright, much brighter than adults because society has had less time to fill their heads with dreck.