Abstract

“With the boundless arrogance of a man of the Enlightenment, Kant claimed in the introduction to Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics that ‘he who undertakes to judge or, more, to construct a system of metaphysics must satisfy the demands here made, either by applying my solution or by thoroughly refuting it and substituting another. To evade it is impossible’”. With this startling and accurate estimation of Kant’s hubris, Jorge Gracia begins his concluding chapter of Metaphysics and Its Task. Evidently, Gracia does not concur with Kant’s glowing estimation of Kant’s achievements. Nor does Gracia agree with Kant that people who, despite their efforts, find the Prolegomena unclear, must “give up the investigation altogether, and apply themselves to other enterprises, for not everyone has the talent to engage in the analysis of abstract concepts”.