Section 23
Original German
§ 23.
Urtheile, so fern sie blos als die Bedingung der Vereinigung gegebener Vorstellungen in einem Bewußtsein betrachtet werden, sind Regeln. Diese Regeln, so fern sie die Vereinigung als nothwendig vorstellen, sind Regeln a priori, und so fern keine über sie sind, von denen sie abgeleitet werden, Grundsätze. Da nun in Ansehung der Möglichkeit aller Erfahrung, wenn man an ihr blos die Form des Denkens betrachtet, keine Bedingungen der Erfahrungsurtheile über diejenige sind, welche die Erscheinungen nach der verschiedenen Form ihrer Anschauung unter reine Verstandesbegriffe bringen, die das empirische Urtheil objectiv-gültig machen, so sind diese die Grundsätze a priori möglicher Erfahrung.
Die Grundsätze möglicher Erfahrung sind nun zugleich allgemeine Gesetze der Natur, welche a priori erkannt werden können. Und so ist die Aufgabe, die in unsrer vorliegenden zweiten Frage liegt: Wie ist reine Naturwissenschaft möglich?, aufgelöset. Denn das Systematische, was zur Form einer Wissenschaft erfordert wird, ist hier vollkommen anzutreffen, weil über die genannte formale Bedingungen aller Urtheile überhaupt, mithin aller Regeln überhaupt, die die Logik darbietet, keine mehr möglich sind, und diese ein logisches System, die darauf gegründeten Begriffe aber, welche die Bedingungen a priori zu allen synthetischen und nothwendigen Urtheilen enthalten, eben darum ein transscendentales, endlich die Grundsätze, vermittelst deren alle Erscheinungen unter diese Begriffe subsumirt werden, ein physiologisches, d. i. ein Natursystem ausmachen, welches vor aller empirischen Naturerkenntniß vorhergeht, diese zuerst möglich macht und daher die eigentliche allgemeine und reine Naturwissenschaft genannt werden kann.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the complete German of the Prolegomena (AA IV 253–383, all §§1–60 and the Appendix), for fidelity, the steps of Kant’s argument, clarity and structure.
§ 23.
Judgments, insofar as they are considered merely as the condition for uniting given representations in one consciousness, are rules. These rules, insofar as they represent the unification as necessary, are a priori rules; and insofar as no higher rules stand above them from which they are derived, they are principles. Now with respect to the possibility of all experience, if we consider in it merely the form of thinking, there are no conditions of judgments of experience beyond those that bring appearances, according to the different form of their intuition, under pure concepts of the understanding, which make the empirical judgment objectively valid. These, therefore, are the a priori principles of possible experience.
The principles of possible experience are at the same time universal laws of nature, which can be cognized a priori. Thus the problem contained in our present second question—How is pure natural science possible?—is solved. For the systematic character required for the form of a science is fully present here. Beyond the formal conditions of all judgments in general, and hence of all rules in general, which logic supplies, no others are possible. These conditions constitute a logical system; the concepts grounded on them, which contain the a priori conditions for all synthetic and necessary judgments, constitute, for that very reason, a transcendental system; and finally the principles through which all appearances are subsumed under these concepts constitute a physiological system, that is, a system of nature. This precedes all empirical cognition of nature, first makes it possible, and can therefore be called universal and pure natural science in the proper sense.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same complete German text.
§ 23.
Judgments, considered merely as the condition for uniting given representations in one consciousness, are rules. Insofar as these rules represent the unification as necessary, they are a priori rules. Insofar as no higher rules exist from which they are derived, they are principles. Now consider the possibility of all experience, looking only at its form of thought. There are no conditions of judgments of experience higher than those that bring appearances, according to the different forms of their intuition, under pure concepts of the understanding. These concepts make the empirical judgment objectively valid. So these conditions are the a priori principles of possible experience.
The principles of possible experience are also universal laws of nature that can be known a priori. This solves the problem posed by our present second question: How is pure natural science possible? For the systematic structure required for the form of a science is fully present here. Logic provides the formal conditions of all judgments in general, and therefore of all rules in general. No further such conditions are possible beyond these. They make up a logical system. The concepts based on them contain the a priori conditions for all synthetic and necessary judgments. For that very reason they make up a transcendental system. Finally, the principles through which all appearances are brought under these concepts make up a physiological system, that is, a system of nature. This system precedes all empirical cognition of nature and first makes it possible. It can therefore be called general and pure natural science in the proper sense.
About this section
Section 23 is part of Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 30 of 72 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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