BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE AND THE BODY IN THE CRITIQUE 159
examination will introduce us to concepts and perspectives central to the
further discussion of my thesis.
5.2 The architectonic of the Critique
The first part of the Critique, the Transcendental doctrine of elements, is
divided into two parts. The first part, the Transcendental aesthetic, is
dedicated to a critical examination of sensibility. Within this context
Kant gives a first basic introduction to his critical theory of space,
according to which space is defined as a form of intuition. The second
part, the Transcendental logic is also divided into two parts, the first of
which is the Transcendental analytic, dedicated to Kant’s critical
examination of the understanding. Here we also find the part of the
Critique that has perhaps received more attention than any other, the socalled
transcendental deductions of the categories or in short, the
transcendental deductions. The Transcendental analytic also contains
what is commonly referred to as Kant’s theory of schematism. The
architectonic of the text suggests a neat division between the topics
discussed: for a proper understanding of Kant’s critical theory of
sensibility and space we only have to look at the Transcendental
aesthetic. A closer inspection of the text, however, reveals that the matter
is more complicated than this. Kant argues that in the constitution of
human experience, sensibility and understanding never operate alone.
Even if these two faculties of the mind may be distinguished
conceptually, they always work together in an integrated way.
My argument in this chapter is based on the assumption that in order
to arrive at a thorough understanding of Kant’s critical theory of
sensibility and space, one has to include not only what he says in the
Transcendental aesthetic, but also what he says in the Transcendental
analytic. Consequently, this chapter will examine parts of both, including
the two versions of the transcendental deduction. 6 The literature on both
the Transcendental aesthetic and the transcendental deductions is vast.
As for the Transcendental aesthetic, the literature typically examines the
various arguments Kant presents in order to prove the a priori character
of time and space qua forms of intuition. As for the transcendental
deductions, the focus is usually on their logical structure and how this
6
That the Transcendental aesthetic can only be understood properly in light of
later parts of the Critique, is also argued by commentators like Rossvær (1974),
100, Schaper (1992), 312, and Kaulbach (1965), 104.