Kant on Evidence: A Hypothetical Reply to Kerr

Abstract

What influence, if any, did Immanuel Kant exert on evidentiary approaches in 18th Century Bulgaria? The seminal work to address this mystery is Kerr, 2015. Although we do not question Professor Kerr’s meticulous research nor impugn his well-reasoned conclusion, we would propose an alternative approach to this important scholarly problem. Briefly, instead of searching through endless old tomes in dark and dusty libraries for a direct correspondence or causal relation between Kant’s work and evidentiary approaches in 18th Century Bulgaria, we would propose the following clean and simple thought experiment: What if Kant were an 18th Century Bulgarian law professor?

Keywords: Kant, evidence, thought experiments

JEL Classification: K1, K19