KANT'S CRITIQUE OF TELEOLOGY IN BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

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112 Antinomy of Freedom of momentum in the system of the world. 71 The position thus under discussion is the purported ability of the will to introduce new force (energy) into the material world and the need to appeal to this "fact" in the explanation of nature. In any case, a great deal more sense can be made of the Third Antinomy if we take it to be dealing with the apparent contradiction between the conservation of motion (causal closure of the material world) and the causal efficacy of the will. Subcontrary Oppositions To clarify the formal structure of the antinomy, I shall follow Michael Wolff and present the apparent contradiction in the following form: 72 Thesis: Some things act spontaneously (are free). Antithesis: No things act spontaneously (are free). ("Spontaneous" is taken to mean: able on its own to initiate a causal chain.) Kant's proofs for the thesis and antithesis need not detain us here; they are as usual apagogical. The schema of finite and infinite series is continued in the proofs and refutations; however, in the resolution section at the end of the antinomies chapter (B560-587) this semblance of uniformity is abandoned, and the infinite series disappear without a trace. We know that Kant considers the thesis to be false because it sins against the category of causality. Why the antithesis is taken to be false becomes clear only after a number of arguments in the resolution section, which will be presented below. For the moment we can say that the problem with both propositions is that they do not distinguish between things in themselves and appearances and extend their assertions to both realms: For instance, "some phenomenal things act spontaneously," is simply false, for things that are not completely causally determined do not 71 Metaphysical Foundations, A154; Ak 4,562-3; W 5,132-3. Although Kant in the preface characterized "genuine" science as being apodictically true, this is his only explicit claim in the entire book to have shown something to be apodictically true. 72 Cf. Wolff, Der Begriff, p.57.
Subcontrary Oppositions 113 appear. And "No thing in itself acts spontaneously," is, while not evidently false, at least without any justification whatsoever. However, in contrast to the First and Second Antinomies, it is possible here that both propositions, thesis and antithesis, can be salvaged if each is restricted to one area. For instance: Thesis. Some things in themselves act spontaneously Antithesis. No phenomenal thing acts spontaneously. The Third and Fourth Antinomies, called by Kant "dynamical" differ from the first two "mathematical" antinomies in that they need not presuppose that the condition and the conditioned are homogeneous. For instance, although the parts (conditions) of a phenomenal body must themselves be phenomenal, it is not necessary — according to Kant — that all causes (conditions) of such a thing be phenomenal. Kant admits that up to the last section of the antinomies chapter "we have been overlooking an essential distinction." When this new possibility is taken into consideration, it "opens up to us an entirely new perspective in regard to the dispute in which reason is involved" (B*557). Since we were compelled to distinguish between appearances and things in themselves in order to resolve the contradiction in the first two antinomies, we can now use this distinction to solve the dynamical antinomies in a different fashion. We can declare the thesis and antithesis in their undifferentiated form to be false (so that the dynamical antinomies still conform to the model presented in the digression on Zeno). On the other hand, after the differentiation both of them can be true, namely, if the thesis refers only to the noumenal world and the antithesis only to the phenomenal. 73 In this case, "we are able to obtain satisfaction for understanding on the one hand and for reason on the other"; and "when thus given this corrected interpretation, both may alike be true; which can never happen with the cosmological ideas that concern only the mathematically unconditioned unity" (B*559-60). The formulation "may be true" is to be taken literally: in the First and Second Antinomies thesis and antithesis are false; in 73 In Reflection No. 5829 (Ak 18,365) Kant writes: "opposita under two different conditions are not contradictorily opposed; the opposition is inadmissable and both statements can be true. For instance, the will as appearance stands under natural necessity and as intellectual it is free. Both conditions are to be conceived in all beings, but only on the example of the will do we notice the latter."
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KANT’S CRITIQUE OF TELEOLOGY IN B
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Contents Acknowledgments...........
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Acknowledgements vii This book pres
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To My Parents M.M.M. and P.O.M.
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2 Introduction fact the rejection o
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4 Introduction almost exclusively c
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6 Introduction reductionism as the
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8 Theory of the Organism will be se
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10 Theory of the Organism when he f
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12 Theory of the Organism that this
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14 Theory of the Organism not in an
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16 Theory of the Organism formation
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18 Theory of the Organism common sp
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20 Theory of the Organism cated to
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22 Theory of the Organism by these
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24 Kant's Reading of Biology of the
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26 Kant's Reading of Biology for in
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28 Kant's Reading of Biology monly
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30 Kant's Reading of Biology not be
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32 Kant's Reading of Biology to ada
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34 Analytic of Teleological Judgmen
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54 Antinomies of Reason tent is par
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56 Antinomies of Reason antinomies
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58 Antinomies of Reason shows that
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60 Antinomies of Reason categories
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Page 74 and 75: 64 Antinomies of Reason described;
Page 76 and 77: 66 Kant's Logic For the true opposi
Page 78 and 79: 68 Kant's Logic outside the sphere
Page 80 and 81: 70 Kant's Logic In contrast to Lamb
Page 82 and 83: 72 Kant's Logic predicate under con
Page 84 and 85: 74 Kant's Logic other. We can thus
Page 86 and 87: 76 Kant's Logic then both conflicti
Page 88 and 89: 78 Kant's Logic Both conflicting pr
Page 90 and 91: 80 The Unconditioned and the Infini
Page 108 and 109: 98 Antinomy of Division Antithesis
Page 110 and 111: 100 Antinomy of Division justificat
Page 112 and 113: 102 Antinomy of Division and thus p
Page 114 and 115: 104 Antinomy of Division why it is
Page 116 and 117: 106 Antinomy of Division B552-53) g
Page 118 and 119: 108 Antinomy of Division "machine"
Page 120 and 121: 110 Antinomy of Freedom How far the
Page 124 and 125: 114 Antinomy of Freedom the Third a
Page 126 and 127: 116 Antinomy of Freedom If Kant mea
Page 128 and 129: 118 Antinomy of Freedom phenomena i
Page 130 and 131: 120 Antinomy of Freedom In the Crit
Page 132 and 133: 122 Antinomy of Freedom must appear
Page 134 and 135: 124 Systematics of Antinomy I do no
Page 136 and 137: 126 Summary position proves to be n
Page 138 and 139: 128 Antinomy of Judgment An antinom
Page 140 and 141: 130 Antinomy of Judgment §74 The r
Page 142 and 143: 132 Antinomy of Judgment must have
Page 144 and 145: 134 Antinomy of Judgment dialectic.
Page 146 and 147: 136 Antinomy of Judgment we cannot
Page 148 and 149: 138 Interpretations of the Antinomy
Page 162 and 163: 152 Heuristic but Necessary Princip
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162 Resolution of the Antinomy the
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164 Resolution of the Antinomy know
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166 Resolution of the Antinomy a wh
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168 Resolution of the Antinomy able
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170 Resolution of the Antinomy ous
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172 Resolution of the Antinomy intr
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174 Resolution of the Antinomy tion
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176 Resolution of the Antinomy meth
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178 Resolution of the Antinomy anyt
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180 Summary acquainted with" a caus
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184 Bibliography Bommersheim, Paul,
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186 Bibliography Fraisse, Jean Clau
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188 Bibliography Kraemer, Eric Russ
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190 Bibliography & E. Mendelsohn) B
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192 Bibliography Roretz, Karl, "Zur
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194 Bibliography American and Conti
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196 Index 144; 154; 167; 169; final
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198 Index mere understanding 47; 13
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KANT'S CRITIQUE OF TELEOLOGY IN BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

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