BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

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SPATIAL EXPERIENCE AND THE BODY IN THE CRITIQUE
extended world with objects likewise extended, i.e. with shape and size,
and standing in spatial relations to each other.
A further comparison lies in the fact that in the exercise of these skills,
the subject is typically 18 both active and passive. That this idea is part of
Kant’s critical theory of space was established above. Expressed in the
critical terminology, his point is that while the content or matter [Stoff]
of an empirical intuition, what he also refers to as ‘sensation’
[Empfindung], originates in the passive affection of the subject, i.e. its
outer sense, its form emerges through certain acts performed by this
subject.
Now, how does Kant describe the active-passive character of spatial
experience within his embodied theory of space? If we look at the
Anthropology, we see how Kant explicitly describes the outer senses as
part of the body, and, moreover, that our sensations originate in the
physical affection of these senses. However, in order to experience a
spatially extended object, being passively affected is not enough. The
subject also has to act, for instance by reaching out for the object and
grasping it. This act gives us a concept of its shape. In order to get a
more comprehensive grasp of the spatially extended world around us,
other activities are also required: we have to walk or run or move around
in other ways.
Within the perspective of Kant’s embodied theory of space, the
active-passive character of spatial experience is best seen, I think, if we
focus on the act of grasping an object. Such an example also makes
explicit the characteristic reciprocity between the active and passive
aspects of the act. Imagine a person exploring an object with her hands.
In moving her hands along the surface of the object, she is active. At the
same time, in the very same act, however, her hands are also passively
affected by the object, by its texture, its weight, its shape etc. Thus, at one
and the same time, she is both active and passive. This activity and
passivity, moreover, are different aspects of the same event. They may be
distinguished conceptually, but they cannot be separated in the real
world.
5.12 Two versions of the same theory?
We have seen that both in his critical and embodied theory of space
Kant puts forward the idea that in spatial experience, the subject is
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I will later discuss whether within Kant’s theory of space there are any
exceptions to this general idea.