Reply to thread

Resolved in what sense?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomy


Antinomy (Greek αντι-, for or instead of, plus νομος, law) literally means the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology.


The term acquired a special significance in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), who used it to describe the equally rational but contradictory results of applying to the universe of pure thought the categories or criteria of reason proper to the universe of sensible perception or experience (phenomena). Empirical reason cannot here play the role of establishing rational truths because it goes beyond possible experience and is applied to the sphere of that which transcends it.


For Kant there are four antinomies connected with:


1. the limitation of the universe in respect of space and time,


2. the theory that the whole consists of indivisible atoms (whereas, in fact, none such exist),


3. the problem of free will in relation to universal causality


4. the existence of a necessary being


There is no resolution. One only accepts the limitations of physical phenomena in relation to 'the universe of pure thought'.


Back
Top