Critique of Pure Reason 4 - Merkmale von Begriffen und Objekten
Details
Great meeting. I think the time devoted to the synthetic a priori was well invested. Even, so if you still have questions about this, please bring them to the next meeting.
One issue that came up is the question of what for Kant is the difference between concepts and objects. I proposed a one-sentence explanation based on the notes Kant made in the margin of his copy of Baumgarten's Metaphysica which I had to translate from the German. People rightly asked my justification and source for my interpretation.
Let me first provide an alternative interpretation, similar to my own, by David Walford, the Cambridge UP translator who translated their volume of Kant's pre-critical writings:
Kant claims that rendering objects distinct is the function of synthesis, whereas rendering concepts distinct is the task of analysis.
The source for this is Note R3738. Below is the note in German and the website where all of Kant's notes, the Nachlaß, are collected.
Alle analytischen Urtheile lehren, was in den Begriffen, aber verworren gedacht ist; die synthetische, was mit dem Begriffe soll verbunden gedacht werden. In allen urtheilen ist der Begriff vom subjekt etwas (a) das ich an dem Objekte x denke, und das Prädikat wird als ein Merkmal von a in den analytischen Urtheilen oder von x in den synthetischen angesehen.
From: https://korpora.org/kant/aa17/278.html
Here's a relatively literal translation.
All analytical judgments teach what in the concept is only unclearly thought; the synthetic, that which should be thought in connection with concepts. In all judgments, the concept of the subject is something (A) thought about the object (X), and the predicate will be regarded as a characteristic of A in analytic judgments or of X in synthetic judgments.
Here's my one-sentence interpretation of my translation:
Predicates characterize concepts in analytic judgments; predicates characterize objects in synthetic judgments.
Kant took this note in 1764, well before the publication of the Critique of Pure Reason first published in 1781, but the way he speaks of concepts and objects in his later works leads me to believe that he never changed his mind about this distinction.
WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO NEXT TIME
We're going read and discuss the last section of the Introduction , Section VII, and most of the A version of Transcendental Aesthetic. We won't read the whole of that section. Please stop before the Elucidation.
Section VII of Introduction
Transcendental Aesthetic A, the two sections on space and time, including the Conclusion after those sections. Stop at the Elucidation
In Guyer, pages 149 through 164
Standard B25 - B30 of Intro B and A19 - A36 of Transcendental Aesthetic A
COMING UP
06/22/25 - Session 4 Finish Intro B and start Transcendental Aesthetic A
07/06/25 - Session 4, Finish Transcendental Aesthetic A
07/20/25 - Session 5, Transcendental Aesthetic B
MORE NOTES/RESOURCES
MY REVAMPED, NEW AND IMPROVED, SLIDES, as of May 24, 2025:
CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON BLOG
SOME RESOURCES FROM OUR FRIENDS
David is presenting his own slides tomorrow. He and Max have provided some Kant glossaries that might be helpful.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yx2eDVs3f0Nqw4llRJS1GmNz5d2PSxy3/view?usp=share_link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dWkTcC5RnAxonm3iNdpCcFR3uFwvusnjZI21S2sykxs/edit?usp=sharing
https://www.academia.edu/5900719/Glossary_for_Kants_Critique_of_Pure_Reason
OTHER KANTIAN STUFF
I am also hosting a meetup that's discussing Critique of Judgment on alternating Sundays. For anyone interested in that, here's the link to the next meeting.
Here's the latest essay concerning Critique of Judgment and also one concerning the Groundwork of a Metaphysics of Morals:
COJ#1.5 - There's practical and then there's practical
Groundwork #1 -
Critique of Pure Reason 4 - Merkmale von Begriffen und Objekten