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Full Idea
Thinkers from Hume to the logical positivists took exception to Kant's view that some synthetic propositions could be known a priori, and so rejected the possibility of metaphysics as Kant conceived of it.
Gist of Idea
Humeans rejected the a priori synthetic, and so rejected even Kantian metaphysics
Source
report of A.J. Ayer (Language,Truth and Logic [1936]) by Cynthia Macdonald - Varieties of Things Ch.1
Book Ref
Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.15
A Reaction
See Idea 7918 for Kant's epistemological view of metaphysics. This strikes me as a big misunderstanding by empiricists, even though they are quite right to insist on evidence and proof. Metaphysics is essential, but its excess is the worst nonsense.
Related Ideas
Idea 7918 Kant turned metaphysics into epistemology, ignoring Aristotle's 'being qua being' [Kant, by Macdonald,C]
Idea 16931 Metaphysics is generating a priori knowledge by intuition and concepts, leading to the synthetic [Kant]
| 12767 | Kant exposed the illusions of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic [Kant, by Fraassen] |
| 3301 | On the continent it is generally believed that metaphysics died with Hegel [Benardete,JA on Hegel] |
| 14767 | The demonstrations of the metaphysicians are all moonshine [Peirce] |
| 14860 | Kant has undermined our belief in metaphysics [Nietzsche] |
| 6864 | Metaphysics is finding bad reasons for instinctive beliefs [Bradley] |
| 13737 | The empiricist says that metaphysics is meaningless, rather than false [Schlick] |
| 16252 | Metaphysics uses empty words, or just produces pseudo-statements [Carnap] |
| 7919 | Humeans rejected the a priori synthetic, and so rejected even Kantian metaphysics [Ayer, by Macdonald,C] |
| 12325 | Philosophy has been relieved of physics, cosmology, politics, and now must give up ontology [Badiou] |
| 15054 | 'Quietist' says abandon metaphysics because answers are unattainable (as in Kant's noumenon) [Fine,K] |
| 17713 | After 1903, Husserl avoids metaphysical commitments [Mares] |
| 16276 | Wide metaphysical possibility may reduce metaphysics to analysis of fantasies [Maudlin] |
| 16413 | Science has discovered properties of things, so there are properties - so who needs metaphysics? [Hofweber] |
| 21666 | 'Fundamentality' is either a superficial idea, or much too obscure [Hofweber] |