Kant's Critique of Pure Reason - the relation of reason to the notion of the unconditioned

Explain the relation of reason to the notion of the unconditioned, and give examples of some objects that are traditionally conceived as unconditioned.

Kant’s critique is centered on pure theoretical reason.  Pure theoretical reason is the faculty of principles and, more specifically, unconditioned principles.  The notion of the “unconditioned” arises in his critique and can be connected to the pure reason that Kant is investigating.  A condition is simply, as stated in class, a connection between two states of affairs.  There are necessary conditions and sufficient conditions but Kant here is looking into the unconditioned.  The unconditioned is a total state of affairs that constitutes the connections among all subordinate, conditioned states of affairs and depends on no other state of affairs distinct from itself.  Some examples that are traditionally conceived as unconditioned would be a supreme, all-being god, the soul, and the totality of the world.  The unconditioned plays a big role in Kant’s critique because he found that human reason naturally and ultimately attempts to find a condition for every condition.  Humans seek an absolute and ultimate explanation for the cause of these conditions.  Therefore, it is instinctive of human reason to get wrapped up in the search for an unconditioned.  There is a direct link between reason and the notion of the unconditioned because we inherently hunt for an unconditioned through reason in order to find an answer to everything!  Kant quoted that “reason demands we find, for the understanding’s conditioned cognition, the unconditioned whereby the cognition’s unity is completed”.  However, Kant also argues that the “unconditioned” cannot be known due to the limits of human knowledge.  This is where Kant’s “Transcendental Dialectic” or “logic of illusion” comes into play.  The problem with the connection between reason and the unconditioned is that the mind sets out to understand concepts beyond possible experience.  This problem brings forth transcendental illusions.  Since we can never fully know if an unconditioned is true or false, an antinomy (paradox) arises when proving one or the other.  For Kant, this is the illusion and he uses the Transcendental Dialectic to prove that knowledge of objects that cannot be experienced is illusionary.  Further on, Kant goes on to basically put forth that special metaphysics is an illusory science.  He deduced that these illusions are unavoidable and that metaphysics as a science is impossible.  In conclusion, human reason logically investigates the unconditioned.  As a result, reason it-self is the prime producer of transcendental illusion as the mind seeks out knowledge that cannot possibly be experienced.