Why is Kant’s Transcendental Deduction So Difficult?

The experience of reading philosophy

“…The Critique of Pure Reason ’s Transcendental Deduction is, according to Kant (2004 : 4:260) himself, “the most difficult thing that could ever be undertaken on behalf of metaphysics.” And most readers agree. The difficult reputation of the B-version of the Deduction, in particular, strikes fear into most who venture into it: Shaddock (2013 : 155) is surely right to gloss Kant’s comment, “Readers have found it not just difficult but downright impossible.” More readings of the Transcendental Deduction end in failure than success; that is, if Kant constructs a language that is “painful to understand” for his readers (as Joubert put it), then the Deduction is where that pain is felt most acutely. And yet, readers keep coming back to this section of the first Critique ; we are gluttons for punishment.…”

Kant's Transcendental Deduction: An Analytical‐Historical Commentary, by HenryAllison. Oxford University Press, 2015, 496 pp. ISBN 13: 978‐0‐19‐872485‐8 hb £75.00

“…Recent commentaries or extensive discussions of the Deduction include (Gomes ; Allais ; Griffith ; Schulting ; Krouglov ; Shaddock , ; Rauscher ; Vinci ; Kaye ).…”