Kant's Criticism of the Relationalist View of Space

The A Priori Applicability of Geometry

Abstract

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant criticizes the Absolutist and Relationalist view of space and time in the "Elucidation" of the "Transcendental Aesthetic." My focus in this paper is mainly on his criticism of the Relationalist view of space. Kant's stand is that the Relationalist view cannot explain the a priori applicability of Euclidian geometry. Nevertheless, from the perspective of modern physics, Euclidian geometry has no a priori application to actual space because the general theory of relativity adopts non-Euclidian geometry. Confronting this problem, I suggest a weak interpretation of apriority and try to defend Kant's assumption of the a priori applicability of Euclidian Geometry.