The general problem of pure reason: rereading Kant

Abstract The Critique of Pure Reason (CPR), at least by Kant’s own reckoning, is an extended reflection on a single question: “Now the real problem of pure reason is contained in the question: how are synthetic a priori judgements possible?” (CPR B19). The question “how is synthetic a priori cognition possible? ” is the transcendental question. Kant’s famous 1772 letter to Marcus Herz –a letter this paper aims to explicate– already contains an outline of the first Critique and is quite important if we want to understand the genesis of the transcendental question.