Extensional and intensional interpretation of synthetic propositions a priori

Gerhard Knauss

pp. 356-361

in: Lewis White Beck (ed), Proceedings of the Third international Kant congress, Berlin, Springer, 1972

Abstract

In the following I try to make sense of the controversy about the syntheticity of arithmetical propositions by a new interpretation. In doing so I point out that I am not of the opinion that the problem of the synthetic a priori is a dead issue as C. I. Lewis declared in 1946 and others before him and after him. I am also of the opinion that a problem which has been thought over for so long, so intensively and by such outstanding people, can not be solved by a simple yes or no decision. There must be something in the problem which justifies both answers.