On Kant’s Copernican Revolution and the Practical Transformation of Metaphysics

It is an important concern for Kant to render the metaphysics to transition from the speculative to the practical domain. In the second edition preface of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant stated that we can securely guide the metaphysics along the path of a science through a revolution in the philosophy, in which the revolution is generally called Copernican Revolution. Since Kant divided metaphysics into metaphysics of nature and of morals, the revolution for the path of a science should aim not merely at metaphysics of nature but also at metaphysics of morals. However, the critique of the traditional metaphysics of nature does not directly lead to the systematic construction of the metaphysics of morals. It contains a transition. Yet, we cannot reach this transition based on the classical understanding of the Copernican Revolution, which disregards the historical context in astronomy. To contextualize the revolution within Kant's philosophy, we will reveal the essence of the Kantian Copernican Revolution. It shows that the essence of the revolution should not be a reversal of cognition and objects but a transformation in the cognitive faculties itself. Through the new interpretation of the Copernican Revolution we can illustrate how did Kant achieve the transition. It presents as a progressively practical transformation process and ultimately provides the groundwork for constructing the metaphysics of morals.