Often called Kant's "first critique," this is a foundational work of modern philosophy, one that attempts to define the very nature of reason, and to join the two schools of thought dominant in the late 18th century: that of Empiricism and Rationalism. At the border between thinking subject to religion and realities as the burgeoning sciences were demonstrating at the time, Kant explores ethics, the limits of human knowledge, logic, deduction, observation, and intuition, and in the process laid the groundwork for the modern intellect. First published in 1781, this is required reading for anyone wishing to be considered well educated. German metaphysician IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) served as a librarian of the Royal Library, a prestigious government position, and as a professor at Knigsberg University. His other works include Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764), Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), and Critique of Practical Reason (1788).

Kant's groundbreaking philosophical treatise concerning the processes of reason is presented here, complete with all appendices and notes. Viewed by scholars of philosophy as one of the landmark texts of the Enlightenment era, The Critique of Pure Reason is often a primary text in higher educational courses concerning philosophy. First published in 1781 and revised in 1787, this book is generally agreed to be the masterwork of Immanuel Kant for its embracing scope, and the gargantuan influence it has wrought upon philosophers. In composing his most famous critique, Kant consulted the works of contemporary philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. Their work, which discusses the extent to which human beings can perceive and utilise knowledge, forms the grounding for many of Kant's arguments. This edition of The Critique of Pure Reason contains the original appendices and is presented in a format ideal for students, scholars and enthusiasts of philosophy.

In his monumental "Critique of Pure Reason, " German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) argues that human knowledge is limited by the capacity for perception. He attempts a logical designation of two varieties of knowledge: "a posteriori, " the knowledge acquired through experience; and "a priori, " knowledge not derived through experience. Kant maintains that the most practical forms of human knowledge employ the "a priori" judgments that are possible only when the mind determines the conditions of its own experience. This accurate translation by J. M. Meiklejohn offers a simple and direct rendering of Kant's work that is suitable for readers at all levels.

Kant's groundbreaking philosophical treatise concerning the processes of reason is presented here, complete with all appendices and notes. Viewed by scholars of philosophy as one of the landmark texts of the Enlightenment era, The Critique of Pure Reason is often a primary text in higher educational courses concerning philosophy. First published in 1781 and revised in 1787, this book is generally agreed to be the masterwork of Immanuel Kant for its embracing scope, and the gargantuan influence it has wrought upon philosophers. In composing his most famous critique, Kant consulted the works of contemporary philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. Their work, which discusses the extent to which human beings can perceive and utilise knowledge, forms the grounding for many of Kant's arguments. This edition of The Critique of Pure Reason contains the original appendices and is presented in a format ideal for students, scholars and enthusiasts of philosophy.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is considered one of the giants of philosophy, of his age or any other. It is largely this book that provides the foundation of this assessment. Kant was a professor of philosophy in the German city of Konigsberg, where he spent his entire life and career. Kant had a very organized and clockwork life - his habits were so regular that it was considered that the people of Konigsberg could set their clocks by his walks. The same regularity was part of his publication history, until 1770, when Kant had a ten-year hiatus in publishing. This was largely because he was working on this book, the 'Critique of Pure Reason'. Kant as a professor of philosophy was familiar with the Rationalists, such as Descartes, who founded the Enlightenment and in many ways started the phenomenon of modern philosophy. He was also familiar with the Empiricist school (John Locke and David Hume are perhaps the best known names in this), which challenged the rationalist framework. Between Leibniz' monads and Hume's development of Empiricism to its logical (and self-destructive) conclusion, coupled with the Romantic ideals typified by Rousseau, the philosophical edifice of the Enlightenment seemed about to topple. Kant rode to the rescue, so to speak. He developed an idea that was a synthesis of Empirical and Rationalist ideas. He developed the idea of a priori knowledge (that coming from pure reasoning) and a posterior knowledge (that coming from experience) and put them together into synthetic a priori statements as being possible. Knowledge, for Kant, comes from a synthesis of pure reason concepts and experience. Pure thought and sense experience were intertwined. However, there were definite limits to knowledge. Appearance/phenomenon was different from Reality/noumena - Kant held that the unknowable was the 'ding-an-sich', roughly translated as the 'thing-in-itself', for we can only know the appearance and categorial aspects of things. Kant was involved heavily in scientific method, including logic and mathematical methods, to try to describe the various aspects of his development. This is part of what makes Kant difficult reading for even the most dedicated of philosophy students and readers. He spends a lot of pages on logical reasoning, including what makes for fallacious and faulty reasoning. He also does a good deal of development on the ideas of God, the soul, and the universe as a whole as being essentially beyond the realm of this new science of metaphysics - these are not things that can be known in terms of the spatiotemporal realm, and thus proofs and constructs about them in reason are bound to fail. Kant does go on to attempt to prove the existence of God and the soul (and other things) from moral grounds, but that these cannot be proved in the scientific methodology of his metaphysics and logic. This book presents Kant's epistemology and a new concept of metaphysics that involves transcendental knowledge, a new category of concepts that aims to prove one proposition as the necessary presupposition of another. This becomes the difficulty for later philosophers, but it does become a matter that needs to be addressed by them. As Kant writes at the end of the text, 'The critical path alone is still open. If the reader has had the courtesy and patience to accompany me along this path, he may now judge for himself whether, if he cares to lend his aid in making this path into a high-road, it may not be possible to achieve before the end of the present century what many centuries have not been able to accomplish; namely, to secure for human reason complete satisfacton in regard to that with which it has all along so eagerly occupied itself, though hitherto in vain.' This is heavy reading, but worthwhile for those who will make the journey with Kant.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

As with all of Kant's writings, this has become an important piece of philosophy that is an important read for any student or thinker today.

Professor Meiklejohn's Grammar and History of the English Language

Revised and re-edited by Fraser McKen (2012)

- NOTE: A free, abbreviated version of this book in .pdf is downloadable at www.jmdmrevision.com]

The original volume - The English Language: Its Grammar, History and Literature (1886) - had widespread popularity, reaching over thirty-five editions in the British Isles, the British Commonwealth and the United States. Since I believe that teachers of English in the 21st C. have the same interest and curiosity about the starting principles of English instruction, I have revised and re-edited this book and, in addition to presenting it on Amazon Books, I have also created a web site to advertise and market it: www.jmdmrevision.com. The web site offers a free, downloadable .pdf version of the new book, including introduction, a table of contents, a description of the original author and highlight passages of the revised text.

My edition of Professor Meiklejohn's Grammar and History of the English Language (2012) is designed as a source text for both new teachers of English and practising classroom teachers. To start with, there is a section on English grammar which includes explanations of the origin and application of terms currently used - as well as clear examples of grammatical values, most of them taken directly from English Literature. There two indexes, one at the beginning of the book and, for easy review of the terms newly introduced to most readers, another index at the end of the grammar section. There is also extensive cross-referencing of grammatical terms such that they can be learned again, if necessary, as the reader proceeds.

After the grammar section is a section on word-branching. Here Professor Meiklejohn describes how individual words have been used to form new words in English, a process which has continued for 1500 years, incorporating root words, prefixes and suffixes in common from Ancient Greek, Latin, French and Old English into the 800,000 words we use today.

Part II is a section on composition, highlighting the modern method of instruction known as "The Writing Process." The Writing Process teaches accuracy of word selection, systematic review of and editing of drafts, logical presentation of ideas, standard punctuation and the lesser known and taught art of prosody (or verse). "The Writing Process" represents the most successful advance in writing and speaking skills development to have taken place in modern English language classrooms. The contents of this book offer a platform for its delivery.

Part III is Professor Meiklejohn's original "History of the English Language." He outlines here in five chapters "The Periods of the English Language," "The History of English Vocabulary," "The History of English Grammar," "Specimens Of Written English From Different Periods" and a final chapter on the English of his own era, The Victorian Age. He concludes this history of English with the "landmark" events in the development of the English Language which extend from from Beowulf to Lord Tennyson.

Part IV, the final section, provides a set of grammatical exercises and corrections indexed to their instructional pages.

In retirement now from my own career as a teacher of secondary school English, and with time and facilities available to me for self-publishing, I am making available, for teachers and student teachers of English worldwide, my own re-edition of Professor Meiklejohn's very successful instructional book of the late 1800's and early 20th C. I believe his book still has useful work to do and that, either as student or teacher of English, you'll agree.

- Fraser McKen

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone