Bits of Kant's Thought: Science, Metaphysics, and Synthetic a priori

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Kant's metaphysics was an attempt to make it or present itself as a science, a body of certain truths.

Up until now, the so called future metaphysics of Kant is still applicable. What we might know today as metaphysical is the science of tomorrow. Same goes for all future metaphysics. Metaphysical, magical, transcendental, these are some of the adjectives we use if we find things hard to understand, if we find not any temporary explanation that would justify itself as a phenomenon, as a reality. Say, the technology that we have today, and its geometrical development was a future metaphysics in Kant's time. The facebook, twitter and the like, how we communicate today thru these technological advancements, were all metaphysical, but now, tis a science. Ergo, what we call today as impossible is a possibility of tomorrow...

Philosophy is a free enterprise, and this is what logic taught us ab initio. The statement above is a synthetic a priori. Same thing with Kant when he distinguish analytic and synthetic propositions or judgments. His difference with Leibniz and Hume is in separating the logicosemantic analytic-synthetic distinction from the epistemological a priori-a posteriori distinction and from the modal-metaphysical necessary-contingent distinction. All analytic statements are a priori and necessary. But, for Kant, some a priori and necessary statements are synthetic, with the analytic a posteriori being discounted on the frame. Like in mathematics (the dominant science in Kant's time until today as we speak), mathematical statements like the sum of 2 and 3 is 5 is synthetic a priori, or the difference of 9 and 3 is 6 is also synthetic a priori. Claims such as what is metaphysical today is the science of tomorrow is synthetic a priori. It's like saying what is probable is equally as improbable as the improbable, and what is improbable is equally as probable as probable is synthetic a priori. Hence, the statement science is contingent is also the same. And because of this contigency, what we know today as metaphysical becomes our future science. Yes, Kant was not particular with the science that we have today, but I'm certain that it has been metaphysical until it was discovered.