Abstract

Kant contends that transcendent metaphysics is both possible and necessary. Kant's critical transcendent metaphysics, unlike the systems of transcendent metaphysics preceding it, makes no claim to knowledge of transcendent objects; it merely claims to provide sufficient justification for believing in them. Chief among these transcendent objects is God. Belief in God is justified, Kant thinks, because such belief promotes the perfection of knowledge and virtue. However, Kant does not succeed in making clear the peculiar meaning he attaches to the word "belief". Moreover, his case for the necessity of belief in transcendent objects, and in particular for the necessity of belief in God, is not convincing