The deduction of the categories as the assurancce of the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments

Abstract

This paper aims at approaching the epistemological characterization inherent in the propositional structure established, discussed and justified by Kant as “synthetic a priori judgment”. At first, within the background of Kant’s argumentation in the first edition of the Critique of pure reason, in the inter lude of the Prolegomena as well as in its final version in the texts of the Real progress and the second edition of the Critique, the problem is set forth. After that, a presentation, a description and a justification of Kant’s tools to cope with the problem, namely, intuition in the domain of sensibility and concepts in the domain of the understanding, are carried out. Finally, the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments as grounded upon Kant’s second edition-argument of the deduction of the categories is brought into discussion. The conclusion reached is that the second edition-argument provides the thorough proof of the justification of scientific propositions as synthetic a priori judgments.