Blackwell Reference Online

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L ogic, epistemology, metaphysics Analytic is a term Aristotle used for his syllogism and for the discussion of the conditions of demonstrative knowledge presented in his Prior Analytics and Posterior Analytics . In contrast, Aristotle presented what he called dialectic in the Topics , another part of his Organon . Since the sixteenth century, it has been common practice to divide logic into two parts: analytic, which concerns the elements of judgment, and dialectic, which concerns the persuasive force of syllogism, and this practice influenced German philosophy. In Critique of Pure Reason , Kant adopted this usage and divided his transcendental logic into the transcendental analytic and the transcendental dialectic. Analytic, in his understanding, is an analysis of the form of understanding and of reason . It seeks to determine the necessary rules of all formal truth and is a canon for deciding on the formal connectives of our knowledge. Kant practiced such an analytic in all of his three Critiques . In the first Critique , the transcendental analytic, including an analytic of concepts and an analytic of principles, seeks to uncover the concepts and principles of theoretical reason. In the second and third Critique , Kant used analytic to discover the principles of pure practical reason and of the power of aesthetic judgment. “The analytic brings to light, by ... log in or subscribe to read full text