Where the core of Kantian philosophy must be located? The author of this paper argues that, facing almost inscrutable breadth and complexities of Kant's Werke, we should rather identify it by singling out the basso continuo of his thinking.
In this respect, the author emphasizes the importance of a short paper written in 1768 on Concerning the ultimate ground of directions in space. According to the accepted view, Kant gave reasons in favor of the Newtonian absolute space in sharp contrast to the space-as-pure intuition theory of Dissertatio (1770). But notwithsatndig the formal differences there lies a continuous line between these two. The author points out that a deep metaphysical concern of Kant surfaces here in relation to the problem of the whole and the parts. Old type metaphysics is based on the assumption that the whole can be made up from the parts : an assumption repudiated by the Newtonian absolutist view of space and effectively illustrated by Kant's own counter-example of the incongruent counterparts.
The critical philosophy of Kant is an attempt at reconstruction of metaphysics by integrating a reversal of the ontological relation between the whole and the parts. The Critique of Pure Reason is a culmination of this enterprise in its concept of “one possible experience” or “one single all-embracing experience” (A582=B610) as the ultimate condition of possibility of paticular experiences.
Finally the author corroborates his view by citations from the Opus postumum, which he regards as the formal, synthetic statement of the Kantian philosophy in close relationship with The Critique of Pure Reason.