The Critique of Judgement

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The faculty of knowledge from a priori principles is termed pure reason, and the investigation into its possibility and limits is the Critique of Pure Reason. This critique focuses solely on our cognitive faculties, particularly understanding and its a priori principles, while excluding feelings and desires. It does not examine practical reason or the faculties of judgment and reason, as understanding is the only cognitive faculty that provides constitutive a priori principles of knowledge. The critique evaluates these faculties to discern their claims to knowledge, ultimately retaining only what understanding prescribes a priori as a law for nature, with its forms also provided a priori. Other pure concepts are classified as ideas, which, while transcendent for theoretical cognition, serve important functions as regulative principles. These concepts help to restrain the overreaching claims of understanding, which may mistakenly assume it can define the boundaries of all knowledge. Additionally, they guide understanding in its exploration of nature, striving for completeness, even if unattainable, thus furthering the ultimate goal of all knowledge.