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The Doctrine of Self-positing and Receptivity in Kant's Late ...

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objectification <strong>and</strong> ―I am‖ as Verbum. This is because the latter are transposed <strong>in</strong>to this<br />

first moment <strong>of</strong> the ontological level, itself understood as a) the subject‘s <strong>posit<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>of</strong> itself<br />

as an Object – projected as the unity <strong>of</strong> the multiple <strong>of</strong> given <strong>in</strong>tuition, formal <strong>and</strong><br />

material; <strong>and</strong> b) the potentiality <strong>of</strong> such projection – the action that br<strong>in</strong>gs the projection<br />

forth <strong>and</strong> enables the affirmation <strong>of</strong> the actuality <strong>of</strong> the subject as Object. At the<br />

ontological level, the logical I as Verbum or copula is now directed beyond its mere<br />

discursive function <strong>and</strong> character <strong>of</strong> unity <strong>in</strong> thought alone <strong>and</strong> towards a field <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tuition<br />

that gives content to the empty notion <strong>of</strong> Object <strong>of</strong> pure apperception. It will thus endow<br />

the ―I‖ with the potential for serv<strong>in</strong>g as copula <strong>of</strong> an assertoric judgment, or proposition<br />

with synthetic content. This self-position is encapsulated by the expression: Ich b<strong>in</strong> [as<br />

Verbum] existierend. Thus, unlike the purely logical self-objectification <strong>and</strong> Verbum,<br />

spontaneity is now conceived <strong>in</strong> it‘s a priori effective function with respect to the<br />

subject‘s self-representation with <strong>in</strong>tuitive content, <strong>and</strong> from a larger perspective, <strong>in</strong><br />

behuf der Erfahrung.<br />

While the Act der Spontaneität runs through the other two ontological moments<br />

(receptivity <strong>and</strong> reciprocity), when discussed on its own terms, its particularity comes to<br />

the fore. One way to see this is to give order to differentiated forms <strong>of</strong> apperception <strong>in</strong><br />

terms <strong>of</strong> the level <strong>and</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> the subject‘s determ<strong>in</strong>ation or determ<strong>in</strong>ability <strong>in</strong> thought<br />

<strong>and</strong>/or <strong>in</strong>tuition: ―I am th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g‖ <strong>and</strong> ―I am exist<strong>in</strong>g‖ as well as ―I am (<strong>in</strong>) space <strong>and</strong><br />

time‖ <strong>and</strong> ―I am (<strong>in</strong>) the world‖ (the latter two will be subject to analysis later on). Here<br />

is a passage from the doctr<strong>in</strong>e where anticipat<strong>in</strong>g the shortcom<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> the first <strong>of</strong> these<br />

expressions, Kant anticipates the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the second:<br />

(Sum)[:] copula <strong>of</strong> a possible judgment; not yet a judgment,<br />

s<strong>in</strong>ce for this a predicate would be necessary (apprehension<br />

145

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