KANT'S CRITIQUE OF TELEOLOGY IN BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

56 Antinomies of Reason
antinomies (3 and 4). In the presentation of the antinomies in the
Prolegomena the answers are even ordered in the form of a table
just like the categories and forms of judgment:
2.
Thesis
Everything in the world is
constituted out of the simple.
Antithesis
There is nothing simple, but
everything is composite.
1.
Thesis
The world has, as to time and
space, a beginning (limit).
Antithesis
The world is, as to time
and space infinite.
4.
Thesis
In the series of world causes
there is some necessary being.
Antithesis
There is nothing necessary in the world,
but in this series all is contingent.
3.
Thesis
There are in the world
causes through freedom.
Antithesis
There is no freedom,
but all is nature.
(I shall cite the somewhat longer and less clear versions of the
Critique of Pure Reason later on when the antinomies are taken up
in detail.): 2
* * * * *
The philosophical position underlying the theses is that of
Newtonian empiricism. The antitheses reflect to a large extent the
rationalist position of Leibniz. This aspect of the antinomies has
been presented and discussed at length by Al Azm and Martin, and
2 Prolegomena, §51; (Ak 4,339; W 3,211). I cite the Prolegomena versions both
because they are shorter and clearer and because there are some difficulties with
the formulation of the Fourth Antinomy in the CPR. The Prolegomena version in
any case corresponds more closely to what is actually resolved in the resolution
sections. The longer versions of the CPR will be cited when each of the antinomies
is dealt with individually.