BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

186
SPATIAL SCHEMATISM
eyes, or more generally, what is immediately given before one’s senses. 23
A similar point is made with regard to Kant’s notion of imagination.
When in his theory of schematism Kant ascribes to the imagination the
capacity to produce images, ‘image’ should not be given a mentalist
interpretation, Rossvær contends. 24 I shall say more about ‘imagination’
and ‘image’ as used by Kant, according to this interpretation, in due
course.
6.5 Kant’s theory of mathematical construction
The above remarks are not intended to give a complete account of
Rossvær’s interpretation of Kant. I do, however, share Rossvær’s belief
that Kant’s discussion of mathematical construction in the
Transcendental doctrine of method sheds interesting light on an earlier
part of the Critique. I find it particularly relevant for our understanding
of the schematism chapter. In fact, I take Kant’s theory of mathematical
construction in the Transcendental doctrine of method to be a part of the
same schematism theory as the one found in the schematism chapter. We
find here the same tripartite structure of concept, constructive procedure
and image as in the schematism chapter. Also, in On a discovery from
1790, in another discussion of the construction of mathematical concepts
similar to the one found in the Transcendental doctrine of method, this
construction is explicitly called schematic. 25
Let us therefore take a closer look at Kant’s theory of mathematical
construction in the Transcendental doctrine of method in order to get an
even clearer conception of his theory of schematism. And let us start with
his claim that to define a mathematical concept means to construct it in
the intuition (A 729f/B757f). An argument found some pages earlier
suggests that what he has in mind is spatio-temporal construction
performed by an embodied agent. Here it is:
23 Ibid., 79ff.
24 Ibid., 217.
25 Ak VIII: 191, footnote. I will return to discuss this passage below.