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Single Idea 18262

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 9. A Priori from Concepts ]

Full Idea

As Kant saw it, analytic knowledge is possible only in the presence of conceptual complexity, but it should have been clear that simple concepts, unaided by intuition, are as apt as their complex counterparts to act as grounds of a priori knowledge.

Gist of Idea

For Kant analytic knowledge needs complex concepts, but the a priori can rest on the simple

Source

comment on Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781]) by J. Alberto Coffa - The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap 1 'Analyt'

Book Ref

Coffa,J.Alberto: 'The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap' [CUP 1993], p.20

A Reaction

The point is that the concept must 'contain' something for Kant's account of what is analytic. This seems to be a very important thought for those who think the a priori is entirely analytic.

The 15 ideas with the same theme [a priori knowledge only arises from our concepts]:

1824 To name something, you must already have an idea of what it is [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
2191 Relations of ideas are known by thought, independently from the world [Hume]
18262 For Kant analytic knowledge needs complex concepts, but the a priori can rest on the simple [Coffa on Kant]
5526 With large numbers it is obvious that we could never find the sum by analysing the concepts [Kant]
16915 A priori intuitions can only concern the objects of our senses [Kant]
4430 All a priori knowledge deals with the relations of universals [Russell]
5411 We can know some general propositions by universals, when no instance can be given [Russell]
9353 We explain away a priori knowledge, not as directly empirical, but as indirectly holistically empirical [Devitt]
13406 A priori knowledge is analytic - the structure of our concepts - and hence unimportant [Papineau]
12389 Knowledge is a priori if the experience giving you the concepts thus gives you the knowledge [Kitcher]
9341 Meanings and concepts cannot give a priori knowledge, because they may be unacceptable [Horwich]
9334 If we stipulate the meaning of 'number' to make Hume's Principle true, we first need Hume's Principle [Horwich]
2727 Red and green being exclusive colours seems to be rationally graspable but not analytic [Audi,R]
2728 The concepts needed for a priori thought may come from experience [Audi,R]
17726 Examining accurate, justified or grounded concepts brings understanding of the world [Jenkins]