The Doctrine of Self-positing and Receptivity in Kant's Late ...
The Doctrine of Self-positing and Receptivity in Kant's Late ...
The Doctrine of Self-positing and Receptivity in Kant's Late ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g a different field <strong>of</strong> determ<strong>in</strong>ability upon which the spontaneity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
<strong>in</strong>tellectual ―I‖ may extend its synthetic activity. In this way what was only <strong>in</strong><br />
potentiality with<strong>in</strong> the act <strong>of</strong> th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g alone can now unfold <strong>in</strong>to experience. Ultimately,<br />
this section thus shows how the very material (perception, space <strong>and</strong> time, sensible space,<br />
empeiria, x, the world) with which the subject <strong>and</strong> experience are constructed have<br />
themselves gone through a process <strong>of</strong> preparation.<br />
iii. a. Orig<strong>in</strong>al Attribution 216<br />
This section <strong>in</strong>troduces both a question as well as the potential key to open<strong>in</strong>g up<br />
the folds <strong>of</strong> receptivity <strong>and</strong> the doctr<strong>in</strong>e. <strong>The</strong> question arises from the apparent absence<br />
<strong>of</strong> what <strong>in</strong> the KrV is a layer <strong>of</strong> perception that is expressed together with the ―I th<strong>in</strong>k‖ –<br />
here too an empirical proposition that expresses an a priori act (the sum as verb, <strong>in</strong> the<br />
language <strong>of</strong> the Op). 217 Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Kant, this perception or ―<strong>in</strong>determ<strong>in</strong>ate empirical<br />
216 This is a concept that J. S. Beck developed <strong>in</strong> his <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> Kant‘s critical<br />
philosophy. <strong>The</strong> choice to use it here does not necessarily imply that the mean<strong>in</strong>g given <strong>in</strong><br />
this context corresponds with the orig<strong>in</strong>al, but simply that it captures the mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> idea<br />
discussed here.<br />
217 KrV: B423n. A portion <strong>of</strong> the referenced footnote is: ―An <strong>in</strong>determ<strong>in</strong>ate perception<br />
here signifies only someth<strong>in</strong>g real, which was given, <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>deed only to th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
general, thus not as appearance, <strong>and</strong> also not as th<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> itself (a noumenon), but rather<br />
someth<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>in</strong> fact exists <strong>and</strong> is <strong>in</strong>dicated as an exist<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the proposition ‗I<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k.‘ For it is to be noted that if I called the proposition ‗I th<strong>in</strong>k‘ <strong>and</strong> empirical<br />
proposition, I would not say by this that the I <strong>in</strong> this proposition is an empirical<br />
representation; for it is rather purely <strong>in</strong>tellectual, because it belongs to th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />
general.‖ Orig<strong>in</strong>al: ―E<strong>in</strong>e unbestimmte Wahrnehmung bedeutet hier nur etwas Reales,<br />
das gegeben worden und zwar nur zum Denken überhaupt, also nicht als Ersche<strong>in</strong>ung,<br />
auch nicht als Sache an sich selbst (Noumenon), sondern als Etwas, was <strong>in</strong> der That<br />
existirt und <strong>in</strong> dem Satze: Ich denke, als e<strong>in</strong> solches bezeichnet wird. Denn es ist zu<br />
merken, daß, wenn ich den Satz: Ich denke, e<strong>in</strong>en empirischen Satz genannt habe, ich<br />
149