Fiery Test of Critique

Kant conceived of ''critique'' as a kind of winnowing exercise, one whose aim was to separate the wheat of good metaphysics from the chaff of bad. But he used a less familiar metaphor to make this point, namely, that of a ''fiery test of critique''. This is not a medieval ordeal or trial by fire, but rather a metallurgical assay, a procedure in which ore samples are tested for their precious-metal...