关键词: 康德, 自然概念, 物自体, 现象界, 目的论自然

Abstract: In his critical philosophy, Kant defined the duality of nature and held nature to be a thing-in-itself that was unknowable in the metaphysical sense. From the perspective of epistemology, however, Kant confined nature into the phenomenal field, claiming the priority of man over nature through the artificial legislation for nature. The inconsistence between nature in phenomenal sense and in the thing-in-itself sense was obvious. In his Critique of Judgment, Kant reconsidered the interconnection between the two different concepts of nature through his re-explanation of nature from the teleological perspective, and he eventually put forward the proposition that nature generates itself into life. Therefore, Kant's laws of Nature can be understood in three dimensions: nature as thing-in-itself, nature as a phenomenon, and nature as teleology. The paper concludes that the proposition of nature as teleology is crucial for Kant's system of critical philosophy.

Key words: Kant, laws of nature, thing-in-itself, phenomenal realm, natural teleology