Kant’s Cosmological Conundrum. The Antinomy of Pure Reason in the Light of Problems for Present-Day Cosmology

Beisbart, Claus (17 September 2019). Kant’s Cosmological Conundrum. The Antinomy of Pure Reason in the Light of Problems for Present-Day Cosmology (Unpublished). In: Kant on the Foundations of Mathematics and Cosmology. What Legacy for German Idealism and Beyond?. Autonomous University of Barcelona. 16.-17.9.2019.

In his passage about the Antinomy of Pure Reason, Kant does not only argue against the possibility of rational cosmology. His arguments are also supposed to show that empirical knowledge about the Universe is impossible. Such a claim seems challenged by present-day cosmology that has witnessed spectacular breakthroughs. Accordingly, in the last few decades, some scholars have tried to show how Kant’s assumptions led him astray. But didn’t Kant get something right too? After all, there are many problems and challenges for cosmology. For instance, the spatial size and topology of our spacetime are unknown; apparently, Dark Energy and Dark Matter have to be postulated to account for the dynamics of the observed Universe, and there is controversy as to whether we live in a Multiverse. This talk focuses on such problems rather than the breakthroughs from cosmology. The main question is whether such problems can be understood in Kantian terms. If this is so, then Kant may help us to better understand cosmology, and the latter may help us to better understand Kant.

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