The uses and interpretations of the postulate of theoretical reason in Kant

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss the postulate of reason, which determines the search for conditions of objects. It is shown that the postulate of reason has two uses: as a principle of reason and as a logical maxim of reason. As a maxim, the postulate is subordinated to understanding, where all conditions found are conditioned to sensible intuition. The postulate as a principle of reason is conceived under the transcendental illusion. In this case, the postulate has two interpretations: as principle constitutive of objects and as principle regulative of reason. The former is the interpretation of the postulate where the unconditioned is given, since the objects are things in themselves. The latter is the interpretation of the principle of reason just as an illusion, i.e., the concepts generated by the principle regulative of reason are ideas that represent unconditioned objects, but just like focus imaginarius