Kracauer read Kant’s epistemology as a prolegomenon to metaphysics, not scepticism

Evidence

For Kracauerand to the same extent for a whole series of related thinkers, such as Walter BenjaminKant’s critique of epistemology became supremely significant when it was viewed as a prolegomenon to metaphysics rather than as a sceptical rejection of metaphysics, as was the case in most forms of neo-Kantianism. The restriction of speculative reason to the sphere of experience had, in Kant’s eyes, the positive virtue that it prevented the categories of the world of experience from expanding into every other conceivable sphere in such a way that there would be no more room for the practical application of pure reason. By analogy, Kracauer was concerned with defining the boundaries of a value-free sociology which claimed to be objective and necessary. In this way, categories which were only valid in immanent spheres would not be absolutized in such a way that other categories were suppressed which were appropriate to socialized humanity’s sphere of transcendence. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 271

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the Kantian boundary-drawing that Kracauer and Benjamin used to protect a sphere of transcendence from scientific categories.
• XREF: Connects to earlier chapters on Horkheimer’s Schopenhauerian finitude consciousness and the transcendent/ historical-materialist tension. — connects to: Heidegger read Kant as dismantling Enlightenment epistemology in favor of ontology — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 242; Kant’s critical idealism planted seeds for later ideology theory without historicizing knowledge; Kracauer taught Adorno to read Kant as coded historical writing — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 263
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 271

Broader Connections

• Heidegger read Kant as dismantling Enlightenment epistemology in favor of ontology #qualifies (0.82) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 242
• Kracauer taught Adorno to read Kant as coded historical writing #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 263
• Kant’s critical idealism planted seeds for later ideology theory without historicizing knowledge #complicates (0.75)