Critique of Pure Reason 7 - Space and Time Are Representations


Details
I appreciate the discussion we had at the end of the meeting because it helped me understand better what Kant means by cognition and representation. I had always thought these referred to elements of consciousness, but if we understand "cognition" to refer not just to the actual things that we know but our process of knowing things, then we could separate that process into conscious knowing and the preconceptual conditions for knowing.
COMING UP
We finished Transcendental Aesthetics A and will start next time with section one of Transcendental Aesthetic B which starts at B33. In preparation for our next discussion, please read
§§ 1 through 8 of Transcendental Aesthetic B (B33 through B72)
08/03/25 - Session 7, Start Transcendental Aesthetic B
08/17/25 - Session 8, Finish Transcendental B
08/29/25 - Session 9, Start Transcendental Logic
BIDDING AU REVOIR TO TRANSCENDENTAL AESTHETIC B
Final Remarks on Transcendental Aesthetic A
- Doctrine of the Transcendental Aesthetic: Space and time are the subjective conditions our mind places on objects in order that we can become aware of them and know something about them.
- Space and time are not themselves objects.
- Space and time are not properties of objects.
- If space and time were either of these, then geometry would be an inductive science.
- We can never understand objects except as they appeared to us in space and time.
- Space and time are preconceptual conditions of knowledge and awareness of objects.
- No matter how refined our instruments, technology will never take us beyond these conditions
- When Kant says that sensation is the matter to the form of space and time, he is speaking via analogy. He does not mean that sensations are literally material particles.
- The form of space and time are necessary; sensations are contingent.
- There may theoretically exist other beings that intuit things differently.
NOTES/RESOURCES
- Essay, Groundwork for a Metaphysics of Morals
https://open.substack.com/pub/geraldpriddle/p/1-kants-groundwork-to-a-metaphysics?r=2rot22&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
2. SEP article on Christian Wolff. Kant was heavily influenced by Christian Wolff. Below is an article from the Stanford encyclopedia philosophy that describes his philosophical views. In particular, I encourage you to check out Sectin 3 that describes his view of science. We can see where Kant got his ideas from.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wolff-christian/
3. ***Hot off the press!*** An analysis of time as explicated in the Transcendental Analytic.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15R3KF1abLKgeiYYJfv00AC2yPMOsU1kr/view?usp=sharing
4. ***Hot off the press!*** Here's a thesis I found online that explains Kant's account of sensation compared to Leibniz'. In addition to helping us understand certain comments Kant makes in the Transcendental Aesthetic, this will come in handy later on when we get into the Amphiboly. The reason why Leibniz is is wrong here is the same as why he's wrong there.
https://journals.flvc.org/UFJUR/article/download/135323/142655/268683#:~:text=According%20to%20one%20line%20of,reducible%20to%20distinct%20intellectual%20representations.

Critique of Pure Reason 7 - Space and Time Are Representations