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

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ii. b. Setzung‘s Function as Positive Magnitude<br />

Sett<strong>in</strong>g aside its def<strong>in</strong>ition <strong>and</strong> the dist<strong>in</strong>ct modalities <strong>of</strong> Position, <strong>in</strong> NG one f<strong>in</strong>ds<br />

an <strong>in</strong>stantiation <strong>of</strong> the way <strong>and</strong> context <strong>in</strong> which the concept can function with<strong>in</strong><br />

philosophical thought. 49 At the most radical level, the concept functions to designate the<br />

positive value <strong>of</strong> reality as a whole. At a slightly more particular level, it functions to<br />

designate a loci <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>dividuation that exhibits a determ<strong>in</strong>ate value – or positivity – that<br />

can be understood as result<strong>in</strong>g from the possibility <strong>of</strong> ―negative magnitudes‖ with<strong>in</strong> the<br />

doma<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> the positively real. In this way, Position represents a ―someth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> general‖<br />

as well as a particular someth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dividualized out <strong>of</strong> the real possibility <strong>of</strong><br />

―noth<strong>in</strong>g(s)..‖ It thus st<strong>and</strong>s <strong>in</strong> contrast to <strong>and</strong> as the representation <strong>of</strong> the very concept<br />

that the essay wants to <strong>in</strong>troduce <strong>in</strong>to our method <strong>of</strong> philosophical th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> concept<br />

<strong>of</strong> negative magnitude <strong>in</strong> philosophy is the tool by which one can move from a merely<br />

logical determ<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> what is (A or non-A) to a conception <strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>dividuation <strong>of</strong> what<br />

is real (here is an example <strong>of</strong> what Kant sees as the pr<strong>of</strong>itable way <strong>in</strong> which philosophy<br />

can be related to mathematics as a science). This is the doma<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> which opposition can<br />

be represented as A <strong>and</strong> – A.<br />

<strong>The</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> negative magnitudes is the direct result <strong>of</strong> Kant‘s th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g<br />

negative relations <strong>of</strong> positivity, the outcome <strong>of</strong> which is what he calls a negation. A key<br />

result <strong>of</strong> this negation is that these states make it possible for the whole <strong>of</strong> reality <strong>in</strong> the<br />

world to exhibit limitations that provide a k<strong>in</strong>d <strong>of</strong> form immanent to reality itself. Kant<br />

provides two cases <strong>of</strong> through which negation can be accounted for through the concept<br />

49 In this essay the use <strong>of</strong> the term Position is more predom<strong>in</strong>ant. Hence the switch <strong>of</strong><br />

emphasis <strong>in</strong> this section <strong>of</strong> the chapter.<br />

35

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