Kant’s first critique, Videos 32-36

This document will cover comments and notes on a series of videos on the critique by Victor Gijsberts.

Video 37, Introduction to the analogies of experience

All of our experiences follow certain rules. Primarily, the objects of experience must necessarily fir in space and time. Therefore, fantasies (which occur neither in space nor time) are non-existent.

The objective world is displayed to us trough perception which is represented in a manifold. In this process, perception leads to experience which is objective. This happens due to overarching rules the order the manifold in time. Because these rules are a priori, experience is objective and should not be confused with mere (subjective) sensation which includes fantasies.

Video 38, First analogy: Substance

Time itself cannot be represented, but we do perceive objects as occurring in a certain time order. Therefore, all appearances contain substance which persists trough time.

Video 39, Second analogy: Causality

Causality describes events that follow each other in time. Specifically, Kant speaks of time-ordered events with an objective order. A mere succession of representations is not objective. For objectivity we need a representation of succession which displays two events that necessarily occur in a certain order.

Video 40, Third analogy: Community

In order to represent things as occurring simultaneously, we need to represent them as a part of an interaction chain. Of only one object influences the other, we peak of causation, but if they interact bidirectionally, they occur simultaneously.

Video 41, The refutation of idealism

In this section, Kant addresses the doubt and rejection of material idealism as per Descartes and Berkeley respectively. Specifically, Kant addresses the beginning of the meditations when addressing Cartesian idealism and not the latter meditations because Kant rejects the Cartesian God.

Kant wants to solve scepticism by proving that inner experience (which cannot be doubted) presupposes outer experience.

Kant states by stating that trough inner experience, we experience something in time. In order to perceive things as occurring in time we need a constant, time persisting substance to relate it to. However, in inner experience, there is nothing that can function as such a substance. We therefore need an outer-world experience. Thus, the conciousness of the self is the conciousness of the outer world.

Video 42, Postulates of empirical thinking

The postulates of empirical thinking relate to the principle of modality which do not augment the objects they relate to. They express only the sense in which the object relates to cognition.

Possibility
An object is possible if it fits the a priori conditions of experience.

Actuality
An object is possible if it is perceived trough sensation and community.

Necessity
Material necessity of an object occurs when an object precedes an already given object. This necessity is not ever fully a prior and necessary objects are thus only hypothetically necessary.