Kant wrote extensively on all major topics of intellectual interest. In terms of the
publication of major texts his most prolific period was 1781 to 1790.
In the domains of epistemology and metaphysics he published the Critique of Pure
Reason in 1781, with a second edition in 1787. In the domain of ethics he published
the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals in 1785 and the Critique of Practical
Reason in 1788. In the domain of asthetics he presented his theory in 1790 in the form
of the Critique of Judgment.
As a form of shorthand the three Critiques are known as the First, Second, and Third,
respectively.
In the first Critique Kant deals with how we come to understand our world; in the
second Critique he deals with practical reason and how we act in our world; and in the
third Critique he attempts to show a systematic connection between the first two. So,
the first deals with how we think about our sensible world, the second deals with how
we act in it, and the third supplies a link between the two in terms of felt judgement.
In the first he draws together our inner experience with our necessary perception of an
external world. He combines perception and understanding through the application of
the productive imagination in such a way as to make judgements possible. He links the
First and the Third Critiques by arguing that aesthetic judgments, that is, judgements
about what is beautiful or sublime, derive from our determination to impose order on
our sensory experience. Thus, aesthetics is just like mathematics: it attempts to find
unity in experience.
So, each of the Critiques is concerned with judgement, judgements of reason, moral
judgements, and aesthetic judgements.
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