23 h 25 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if reason must stand trial before it can tell us what we know?
In The Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant asks what human reason can know without help from experience. Rationalists trust pure thought to reach truths about God, the soul and the world. Empiricists turn to the senses. David Hume pushes the challenge far enough to shake the foundations of science.
Kant answers by examining reason itself. He explores how the mind shapes experience, why concepts and sense impressions need each other, and where knowledge reaches its limits. Mathematics and natural science stand within those limits. Questions about the soul, God and the world as a whole test reason's urge to go beyond them.
What you’ll discover
- Reason in the dock Follow Kant as he asks reason to examine its own powers before judging the world.
- A mind that shapes experience Explore the claim that space, time and categories shape the world as we know it.
- Thought meets the senses See why neither concepts nor sense impressions can supply knowledge on their own.
- The puzzle of cause Examine how cause and substance serve as rules of experience in Kant's argument.
- The limits of proof Encounter opposing arguments that expose reason's troubles when it reaches beyond experience.
Who will love it
For readers curious about how modern philosophy took its shape, students meeting Kant for the first time, and anyone drawn to questions about reason, experience and how the mind shapes what we know.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Reason must put itself on trial
- Some truths add to knowledge yet need no experience
- The mind shapes what it knows
- Concepts and sense impressions need each other
- Cause and substance are rules of experience
- Appearances are all we can know
- The soul cannot be proved by pure thought
- Reason contradicts itself about the world and God
- What the critique left behind
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 23 h 25 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Critica della ragion pura in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Critica della ragion pura
by Immanuel Kant · 1781
Kant puts reason on trial to discover what we can know about science, God, the soul and the world.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Critique of Pure Reason is a work of philosophy by Immanuel Kant, who taught at the university in Königsberg in Prussia. It first appeared in 1781, and Kant reworked it for a second edition in 1787.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Reason must put itself on trial
Kant opens with a complaint about metaphysics. Once, he says, it was called the queen of the sciences. Now it is a battlefield where endless quarrels never reach a winner. Mathematics and physics move forward, but metaphysics circles round the same disputes about God, freedom and the soul.
His answer is not to ban such questions. Human reason, he says, cannot help asking them, because it is built to seek the final ground of things. The trouble is that reason tries to go beyond every possible experience and then loses its footing. So the first job is to find out what reason can and cannot do.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Critica della ragion pura
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Critique of Pure Reason about?
It asks what human reason can know without relying on experience. Kant argues that the mind shapes experience through space, time and basic concepts, so science is secure, but reason cannot prove claims about God, the soul or the world as a whole.
What does synthetic a priori mean in Kant?
A synthetic a priori judgment adds to our knowledge yet is known without depending on experience. Kant gives examples from mathematics and from physics, such as that every event has a cause, and asks how such judgments are possible.
What is the Copernican revolution in Kant's philosophy?
It is Kant's proposal that objects must conform to the mind's ways of knowing, instead of the mind conforming to objects. Like Copernicus changing the viewpoint in astronomy, he changes the viewpoint in the theory of knowledge.
The author
Immanuel Kant
1724–1804 · German philosopher
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia, in 1724. He lived there until his death in 1804 and taught at its university. He wrote Critique of Pure Reason in 1781, Critique of Practical Reason in 1788, Critique of Judgement in 1790, and Perpetual Peace in 1795.
More by Immanuel Kant
All 7 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
