Instructor: Adam C. Jones
Format: Archived 4-week seminar (Zoom sessions)
Total Runtime: ~8 hours
Original Dates: February 15 – March 8, 2026

This course introduces Immanuel Kant’s critical philosophy by following the conceptual thread that binds together the Critique of Pure Reason and the Critique of Practical Reason: the problem of causality. Beginning with the skeptical challenge posed by David Hume, the seminar explores how Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” in philosophy attempts to secure the possibility of knowledge while simultaneously redefining the limits of reason. Hume’s critique of causal necessity destabilized the foundations of scientific knowledge, reducing causal relations to habits of association rather than objective features of the world. Kant’s response to this challenge reshaped modern philosophy by arguing that causality—and the other categories of understanding—are not derived from experience but are instead conditions that make experience possible in the first place.

Across four sessions, participants trace Kant’s critical project as it moves from the structure of human cognition to the question of moral freedom. The course examines Kant’s account of the transcendental conditions of experience, including the faculties of sensibility and understanding and the role played by the categories in organizing appearances into coherent objects of knowledge. Particular attention is given to Kant’s development of transcendental logic and the famous “table of categories,” as well as to the limits placed on speculative reason when it attempts to extend knowledge beyond the bounds of possible experience.

The seminar then turns to the second Critique, where Kant reinterprets causality within the sphere of practical reason. If causality structures the world of appearances in theoretical philosophy, Kant argues that a different kind of causality emerges in the domain of moral action: the causality of freedom. Through this shift, Kant situates the human will as capable of initiating action according to rational law rather than merely responding to the deterministic order of nature. The course thus explores how Kant links epistemology and ethics through the concept of causality, showing how the same critical framework that limits theoretical knowledge simultaneously grounds the possibility of moral autonomy.

Originally held live via Zoom, this archived edition includes recordings of all four sessions and is designed for independent study. It is well suited for participants seeking a structured introduction to Kant’s first two Critiques, as well as for those interested in the philosophical stakes of causality, knowledge, and freedom in the modern tradition.

Instructor’s Biography

Adam C. Jones is a philosopher, writer, and co-host of the Acid Horizon podcast, where he explores critical theory, political philosophy, and contemporary culture. His work engages traditions of German Idealism, Marxism, cybernetics, and anti-authoritarian thought, with particular attention to systems of power, mediation, and social control. He is the author of The New Flesh: Life and Death in the Data Economy and a frequent lecturer in para-academic and experimental theory spaces.

Original course documents can be found here.