Comments

  • Wittgenstein’s creative sublimation of Kant
    I think there is no real place for skepticism within the transcendental idealism, and I take this to be one of its flaws.Metaphysician Undercover

    “…. scepticism—the principle of a technical and scientific ignorance, which undermines the foundations of all knowledge, in order, if possible, to destroy our belief and confidence therein….” (A424/B452)

    “…. Thus, the critique of reason leads at last, naturally and necessarily, to science; and, on the other hand, the dogmatical use of reason without criticism leads to groundless assertions, against which others equally specious can always be set, thus ending unavoidably in scepticism….” (B23)

    Apparently, there isn’t a place for scepticism in transcendental philosophy anyway, insofar as to support our belief or confidence in our knowledge is exactly what the a posteriori aspect of the thesis promises, and, the exposure of flaws in the use of reason without proper critical restrictions on its authority is exactly what the pure a priori aspect demands.

    I suspect you might mean as one of the flaws in transcendental philosophy, insofar as the philosophy as a whole is dedicated to defeating scepticism, is the sceptical method….

    “…..This method (…) of originating a conflict of assertions, (…) to discover whether the object of the struggle (…) each side strives in vain to reach, but which would be no gain even when reached—this procedure, I say, may be termed the sceptical method. (…) For the sceptical method aims at certainty….” (Ibid a)

    ….which is part-and-parcel of the nature of reason itself. I’m just saying I don’t think it responsible to fault a predicate of a philosophy that addresses the very thing the human intelligence is prone to doing, and in acknowledging it, guarding against its interference, is possible.

    Might be interesting to be informed as to what you think scepticism actually is, and therefrom, where in transcendental philosophy it resides, as a flaw in it.
  • Indirect Realism and Direct Realism
    We perceive the world via phenomenal experience.hypericin

    What, then, of the senses?

    The world is first in the chain of events leading to phenomenal experience, and the experience is last. Therefore, we perceive the world indirectly.hypericin

    Agreed on the first, but how does the second follow?
  • Thought Versus Communication
    You think thought and communication are divorced from brain activity?ucarr

    Did I not say that brain activity, relative to the self, is given?

    ….the noumenal section….ucarr

    The…what????

    Reflexivity and redundancy are not synonymous.ucarr

    Your reflexivity is my reciprocity, and no, they are not synonymous with redundancy.

    spending the rest of your days in solitary confinement within a white room would be for you a matter of indifference.ucarr

    Yep. Why not? Euphemistic escape: the white room is of my own design, laying in the dark, where the shadows run, not from themselves, but from me, because they are mine. You, being just as human as I, inhabit your own white room, in which you will be confined for the rest of your days.

    Riddles, cleverly disguised as clandestine aphorisms, don’t interest me, although their construction is kinda fun. I mean, really…how can there be shadows, running or not, in a dark room. And if you’re laying in the dark, what does it matter if the room is white? Peter Brown needed his head examined. Or maybe just laid off the windowpane.
  • Thought Versus Communication
    I think brain activity occurs in spacetime.ucarr

    Of course, but we weren’t discussing brain activity. If you wish to go there, you’re obligated to connect the self and its activities, a predominantly metaphysical paradigm, to the brain and its activities, a predominately scientific paradigm, with apodeitic specificity. That the self is impossible without the brain is given, but is at the same time far to general a proposition to be of any explanatory help.
    ————

    Guilt is an everyday example of the self judging its own actions and finding fault with itself.ucarr

    Such is the superficial appearance, but I disagree that the self is finding fault with itself. It is actually the self finding fault with an act a posteriori, as effect, but not necessarily with its antecedent judgement by which the act is determined a priori, as cause.
    —————

    The gist of my thesis is that the self is not reducible to a unitary person.ucarr

    I, on the other hand, hold the self is reducible to a unitary, or singular, rational identity.
    —————

    You seem to be implying self cannot be objectively aware of self.ucarr

    I’m familiar with arguments in which the self is both subject and object. This happens only in expositions of it, wherein what the self is in itself as object, is confounded with the manifestations of the self’s doings as subject. In other words, the self is necessarily reified when attempting to explain itself. Which gives rise to the inevitable absurdity of the self reifying itself. Still, conceptions, intuitions, morals, thoughts, subjects and objects and whatnot, are all required pursuant to expressions of the human kind of intelligence, but the self doesn’t use any of them to do what it does, except to manifest itself as subject.

    So, yes, I submit the self not only isn’t aware of itself objectively, but is absurd to suppose it needs to be. In fact, I reject the notion that the self is aware of itself subjectively, hence the redundancy, while merely granting the availability of some mechanism by which it seems to be the case.
  • Thought Versus Communication
    Is there any differential in space and time separating the self and its thoughts?ucarr

    There isn’t any space in a thought, and if the self just is that which has thoughts, one is temporally inseparable from the other.
    ————-

    ….a) a thought is about the judgment of the self in reaction to a perception of the worlducarr

    I don’t think of judgement like that. The self judges, so it can’t be that the self is judged. Using your terms, I’d only admit to judgement as being the self’s manifest reaction to a perception.

    …..b) a judging self is self-aware in its acts of judgment…..ucarr

    Tautologically true, but congruent with every other aspect of what the subject does….

    …..and self-awareness requires a separation of self (…) from self…..ucarr

    I personally don’t agree with that; I find it a mischaracterization of self, in its irreducible sense. Self-awareness is redundant. Awareness presupposes self, and, self is necessarily that which is aware.

    …..if there is no separation of self from self….ucarr

    I wonder how that can even happen. By what mechanism can a singular identity become detached? If self separates from self, what then becomes of self-awareness?
    ————-

    this inter-communitive relationshipucarr

    Thought and judgement, because they are related to each other….communicate? Why can’t they just be specific components integrated into a particular process? It’s like saying the water communicates with the soil in which the plant grows.

    Anyway, it’s become too psychological for my interests, so, thanks for the alternative perspective.
  • Thought Versus Communication
    When the self has a thought, the content of the thought gets conveyed to the self having the thought.ucarr

    Conveyed….from where?

    Given that there is no such thing as an empty thought, it follows necessarily that when a self has a thought, it must be that the content does not get conveyed to the self, but arises from the self in conjunction with the thought the self has.

    The assertion, then, reduces to either the conveyance, not of the content, but of the thought itself, to the self that has the thought, a contradiction, or, there is nothing whatsoever conveyed to the self regarding thought and its content, that doesn’t already reside therein, such that, ipso facto, thought is possible.

    Not to say there isn’t something conveyed to the self, as something must be in order to justify his experience. It just isn’t thought or its content.
  • Wittgenstein’s creative sublimation of Kant
    the conception is posterior to the intuitions which Kant confirms are active in each person.Paine

    Absolutely. All conceptions are posterior to intuition, in Kant.

    Sort of taking half of Descartes' certainty at the expense of the other.Paine

    You mean, cogito at the expense of substance? If so, then yes, I’d agree with that.
  • Wittgenstein’s creative sublimation of Kant
    He does say at the beginning that it is an empirical proposition, so yeah, I'm disagreeing with thatJanus

    So does he. The empirical proposition is initially a derivative of Mendelssohn's materialism; the disagreement is the evolution of the “Refutation of Idealism” in A, to the “Solution of the Psychological Paralogism” in B.

    In short, the “I”, previously taken as Descartes’ “thinking substance” and Mendelssohn's “simple being”, cannot exist as conditioned by modal categories, but can only be represented as a non-contradictory transcendental object.

    While we all might be quite happy to be informed our respective “I”’s can’t be really real, we still might be a little reserved in our happiness from being informed it’s no more than an intellectual conception.
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    ….where is the "immediate" object?Pez

    Immediate appearance is before the processing. Object here just indicates that which is processed, depending on which sense is affected. The object for the ear is sound, for the tongue, chemicals, etc. The intellectual system, metaphysically speaking, the brain physically speaking, determines how the object of sense, referred to as sensation, is to be known by that system.
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    I can take it only as subjective opinion….Pez

    Was my “Dunno, but maybe….” your first clue? Is any opinion not subjective? Doesn’t “opinion” characterize the majority of postings in this kind of public media? So it is no big deal to take what anybody says, at least initially, as mere opinion.

    Speaking of nonsense…..

    the only fact, that I can be sure of is, that I exist. (…) reminiscence to Descarte's „cogito ergo sum“Pez

    …..relevant insofar as, because there is an antecedent necessary condition supporting the fact you exist, which is fundamentally reminiscent of Descartes, it is nonsense to assert the fact that you exist is the only fact there is to be sure of.

    But any knowledge in a strict sense about objects entirely out of our consciousness is impossible, especially regarding their behavior in the future. If this was the case, Hume's arguments are indeed irrefutable.Pez

    ….. it is the case knowledge of objects out of our consciousness is impossible, which makes both their future behavior superfluous, and, the connection to Hume’s argument, irrelevant.

    Categorical error: knowledge of objects impossible because they are not in consciousness, is very far from knowledge of objects impossible because they are not immediately perceived. Hume’s argument, re: that knowledge of unperceived objects is validated by “constant conjunction”, or, habitual cause/effect thinking, has nothing to do with the objects as the content of consciousness, and is entirely refuted by theories of empirical knowledge wherein the immediate appearance of objects to the senses is a fundamental prerequisite.

    My opinions, of course. I can give the textual references for them, from Rene’s, Dave’s or Manny’s opinions, if you like.
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    Would You not say a dream is of Your own making? And as long as You dream is it absurd to say You live in that dream?Pez

    Yes to both. I cannot do science in a dream. While it could be said by dreaming I may represent myself as if I am doing science, in fact I’m not doing anything scientifically.
    ————

    What do You mean by "really existent things"?Pez

    Ehhhh, that’s just me being…..me. Existing indicates that for which the negation is contradictory; really existing just indicates that for which the negation is stupid.

    …..Transcendental Idealsms has nothing whatsoever to do with ordinary idealism or solipsism.Pez

    True enough, but it is a form of idealism nonetheless. Dunno, but maybe these days the term has been transitioned onto one of those newfangled language games, where idealism of old is now raw subjectivism, or some other such nonsense.
  • What makes nature comply to laws?
    I’m a week late to the party, so the following is more or less rhetorical…..

    Does this mean that transcendental idealism is in the end unavoidable and there is no realistic alternative to this world-view?Pez

    TI is not a world-view, although it may be said to contain the ground for the development of one. TI is a doctrine, supported by a speculative metaphysical theory concerning the human intellect in general, and as such, has no warrant beyond its own logic for actually being the case.

    So saying, even if not a world-view per se, TI is certainly avoidable by not having any knowledge of it, and, there can be realistic alternatives to it by assuming a different set of initial conditions. Just as in any theory, TI is neither certifiably irrefutable nor unalterable.

    On the other hand, TI is unavoidable iff the rational thinking subject….that to which the theory applies….subscribes to its rules. With respect to the thread title, one of the major rules is the source of the legitimacy for attributing to Nature, only that by which its observable relations are comprehensible, and its unobserved relations are nonetheless possibly comprehensible.

    Only if comprehension is invariant, that is to say, subsumed under the principles of universality and necessity, and thereby under any legitimate condition, is the attribution to Nature a law. From which follows as a matter of experience alone, we do in fact influence the laws of Nature, insofar as we propose them, even if it is true we cannot influence Nature or the intrinsic relations observable in it.
    ————-

    The spatiotemporal world we live in is, according to Kant, of our own making. It exists only in our ideas (Vorstellung) and gives us no clue to what these things might be „an sich“ or per se.Pez

    If it is the case the spatialtemporal world resides in our intelligence, insofar as “it is of our own making”, it’s absurd to then suppose we live in it.

    If something is of our own making, how is it possible we don’t have a clue about what that something is? If it is something because of us it cannot be nothing to us.

    Wouldn’t the fact we don’t have a clue about these things, immediately presuppose them? How is it possible to have or not have clues about things that aren’t there to have or not have clues about? And if things are presupposed, the notion of ideas alone as conditions for having no clue about the existence of things, is categorically false.

    If that in which we live exists merely from our ideas of it, why do we have and employ apparatus for the receptivity of various modes of physically real affectations caused by really existent things?
    ————-

    “….. In the transcendental æsthetic we proved that everything intuited in space and time, all objects of a possible experience, are nothing but phenomena, that is, mere representations; and that these, as presented to us—as extended bodies, or as series of changes—have no self-subsistent existence apart from human thought. This doctrine I call Transcendental Idealism….” (A491/B519, in Kemp Smith,1929)

    It is, then, in Kant, representations are that which exists only in human thought, and subsequent peer review iterations have extended mere human thought to ideas. That in which we live, in which we exist as a particular kind of thing amongst all things in general, is necessarily presupposed as existing by its own accord, independent of human intelligence, in order for there to be spatialtemporal phenomena at all.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world


    Yeah, ok. All my fault. Sorry.

    Good luck.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    Your misunderstanding seems to come from thinking judgements are concepts…..Corvus

    Good luck finding where I said judgement are concepts. If I didn’t say it, what possible ground could there be for you to claim a misunderstanding of mine related to it?

    …..and judgements have no association with reasoning in the operation.Corvus

    What operation? For this operation it doesn’t, for that operation it does. I’m not going to guess which one you’re talking about.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    Worshipping Kant and CPR as if he is some God, and CPR is the bible is not a good philosophy.Corvus

    While this is correct, do you see the fault in judgement in supposing it has been the case with respect to this conversation? And if there’s no evidence for the case other than mere observation of the disparity in our respective comments, and even if that assertion never was directed towards this conversation in the first place, what purpose is served by stating the obvious?

    But never fear; it’s ok. It’s covered in the bible (of critical human thought):

    (those finding themselves in a dialectic corner) “…must either have recourse to pitiful sophisms or confess their ignorance…”.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    CPR is not a bible….Corvus

    For a few hundred years, it is, for all intents and purposes, the bible for critical human thought.

    It has to be interpreted and understood in making sense way for the present days.Corvus

    Why wouldn’t it? Knowledge has certainly evolved, but the human intellectual system, in whichever form that actually is…. by which knowledge evolves, has not changed one iota in these few hundred years. Or even if a couple iotas, still not enough to make a difference. Given current education and peer review, Kant would understand “qualia” just as well as anybody these days.

    ”To understand Kant is to transcend him."Corvus

    Nahhhh. To understand Kant is to think as if in his place and time. Work with what he worked with. You didn’t read in that link, where the author said pretty much the same thing? That people are apt to misunderstand him because they’re using asymmetrical conditions in attempting to arrive at congruent conclusions. Sadly, Kant must be wrong because he’s three hundred years old?

    (Sigh)
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    If you already have the concepts of things, why do you need further judgements on them?Corvus

    Further? This implies concepts are judgements, when they are in fact only representations.

    For why judgement is needed, when there are already conceptions, consult A67-76/B92-101.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    make judgements with conception only…..Corvus

    All judgements having to do with things, are of conceptions only.

    …..without any other mental faculties associated?Corvus

    I never said no other faculties were associated. In fact, other faculties must be, given the previous comments.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    How can you judge if the apple taste good without having eaten it? Just by conception of apple, it is impossible to judge if the apple tastes good.Corvus

    All and each sensation, depending on its mode of intuition, is represented by its own conceptions. The compendium of those conceptions, synthesized in an aggregate series of relations to each other, gives the cognition of the thing as a whole. For those singular sensations, by themselves, not in conjunction with other modes of intuition, only judgements relative to that mode of intuition, that sensation, are possible.

    Sufficient to explain why not all possible sensations are necessary to judge an object, and, that each sensation manifests in a possible judgement of its own, in accordance initially with its physiology, henceforth in accordance with the rules implicit in the faculty of understanding.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    ….judgement needs reason for its proper operation.Corvus

    Depends on what you think proper operation of judgement entails. Pretty sure I made clear, according to the original transcendental philosophy, it doesn’t need reason.

    Judgement needs conceptions for its operation, proper or otherwise, such operation being the functional unity in understanding.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    The association theory of mind for Hume and Kant is not that the different mental faculties are the same entities. It means they work together just like the car parts as you presented. But you seem to misunderstand the association theory of mind.Corvus

    What….so the associative theory of mind works like the relation of car parts, I understand the relation of car parts….obviously, since I presented it…..yet I don’t understand the associative theory of mind which is just like it?

    Didn’t I mention that each member of a system works in conjunction with the others?
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    Judgement doesn’t conclude, it synthesizes.
    — Mww
    Why does it synthesise? What does synthesis do, if it doesn't offer conclusion?
    Corvus

    Crap, I spoke too fast. Imagination synthesizes; judgement merely represents the synthesis. My badly stated shortcut, sorry. Productive imagination synthesizes conceptions, that is, relates the conception in the subject of a possible cognition, to the conception in the predicate, the unity of that relation is then called judgement.

    Reason certifies the relation as logical iff it accords with the corresponding principles, by which we consider ourselves positively certain, re: knowledge, and illogical otherwise, by which we find ourselves negatively certain, re: confused.
    ————-

    But it doesn't mean that reason has nothing to do with the other mental faculties.Corvus

    That each member of a system operates in conjunction with the others, does not make explicit any have to do with the other. Pretty simple, really: the engine in a car has nothing to do with the rear axle, each being specific in itself for purpose and function, but without both, the car goes nowhere.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    How can judgement function for rational conclusionsCorvus

    Judgement doesn’t conclude, it synthesizes.

    “…. Conceptions, then, are based on the spontaneity of thought, as sensuous intuitions are on the receptivity of impressions. Now, the understanding cannot make any other use of these conceptions than to judge by means of them. (…) All the functions of the understanding therefore can be discovered, when we can completely exhibit the functions of unity in judgements.…”
    (A68/B93)

    “…. General logic is constructed upon a plan which coincides exactly with the division of the higher faculties of cognition. These are, understanding, judgement, and reason. This science, accordingly, treats in its analytic of conceptions, judgements, and conclusions in exact correspondence with the functions and order of those mental powers which we include generally under the generic denomination of understanding.…” (A131/B170)

    So it is, in merely representing the higher powers of the overall human intellectual program, re: as a means to expose and enable discussions of it, a speculative tripartite logical system in the form of a syllogism, the order or sequential procedure of which understanding is the major, judgement is the minor or assemblage of minors, and reason is the conclusion.
    ————-

    Reason can serve nothing useful or rational if it stood itself in the mind with no connections to the experience, appearance, intuitions and judgement.Corvus

    Just ask yourself….what did Hume say reason couldn’t do? And if the major raison d’etre of CPR was to expose what reason can do, such that Hume’s philosophy was proved incomplete, then it is the case reason has nothing to do with experience, appearance, intuitions and judgement, which Hume’s empirical philosophy covered well enough on its own. It has to do with, not all those, but how the use of those in non-empirical conditions is not only possible but necessary, and they are so only iff it is the case synthetic, and altogether pure a priori cognitions are themselves possible.

    THAT….is what reason does, and we call them…..waaiiiitttt for itttttt…..principles!!!!!
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    I am not sure if reason has no warrant or entitlement to do in the pursuit of empirical knowledge….Corvus

    Given that empirical knowledge just is experience**….
    (“… to convert the raw material of our sensuous impressions into a knowledge of objects, which is called experience…”)
    **translator-dependent, as we are all so familiar.

    “…. Reason never has an immediate relation to an object; it relates immediately to the understanding alone. It is only through the understanding that it can be employed in the field of experience. It does not form conceptions of objects, it merely arranges them and gives to them that unity which they are capable of possessing when the sphere of their application has been extended as widely as possible. Reason avails itself of the conception of the understanding for the sole purpose of producing totality in the different series. This totality the understanding does not concern itself with; its only occupation is the connection of experiences, by which series of conditions in accordance with conceptions are established. The object of reason is, therefore, the understanding and its proper destination. As the latter brings unity into the diversity of objects by means of its conceptions, so the former brings unity into the diversity of conceptions by means of ideas; as it sets the final aim of a collective unity to the operations of the understanding….”
    (A643/B671)

    But reason when applied to the appearance….Corvus

    Reason has nothing to do with appearances as such, as shown above, inasmuch as immediate relation to an object IS its appearance to sensibility alone.

    Illusory or outright mistaken understandings relative to real things, is a function of judgement, not reason.

    That reason has for its object understanding, and understanding has for its object experience, it does not follow that reason has to do with experience or empirical knowledge itself.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    …..proper account…..Corvus

    Because the point was…..

    “….we do not have to conceive of the ‘something’ that underlies appearances as a material object. It might as well be considered as something that is immaterial and can only be thought….”

    ….and because to conceive is a logical function of understanding, it follows that the something that underlies appearances, if considered as merely something immaterial and can only be thought, whatever that conception might be, cannot be phenomenon. And if not phenomenon, it is impossible for that conceived something to be an experience or a possible experience, which means there will be no empirical knowledge of it.

    “….. For, otherwise, we should require to affirm the existence of an appearance, without something that appears, which is absurd….”
    (Bxxvii)

    My opinion on that account: the use of transcendental conceptions of reason, re: that which underlies appearances as immaterial or simply conceived as something, is what the critique was all about, that is, an exposition on what not to do. Or, technically, what reason has no warrant or entitlement to do, in the pursuit of empirical knowledge, which is all that appearances concern.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    What is your own point?Corvus

    Didn’t have one; just curious.

    The following is the point I used to agree with, and still do.Corvus

    That’s fine, provided proper account is taken for it.
  • Reason for believing in the existence of the world
    ….various commentaries…..Corvus

    Did you read the “Multi-Layered Conception….” paper linked on the previous page?
  • On The 'Mechanics' of Thought/Belief
    Few, if any, other things pique my interest as much as meaningful human thought, belief, and/or experience.creativesoul

    Same here.

    I do believe all experience shares a core set of common denominators.creativesoul

    As they must, I should think.

    Generally, all meaningful human experience consists in very large part of correlations being drawn between different things by the individual at that time.creativesoul

    I rather think experience consists in very large part of entirely of correlations…..
    —————

    I still maintain that at conception there is no meaningful human experience.creativesoul

    I agree. But your use of “in utero” implies a very different notion of “conception” than I would ever use, relative to experience. You’re indicating conditions relative to a general biological development, I’m indicating conditions relative to a specific constituent in a systemic methodology, in which such biological development is necessarily presupposed.

    I think it undeniable that correlations are drawn in utero.creativesoul

    Perhaps, but what kind of correlations? And if the kind that have only to do with, not even fundamental survival but solely with continuous successful biological development, does it matter how they are made?
    —————

    I've found that the subject/object dichotomy is incapable of properly accounting for all meaningful human experience.creativesoul

    Incapable of properly accounting, agreed, meaning the subject/object dichotomy makes no sense as an operational predicate of the human cognitive system itself. In other words, the proper accounting for all meaningful human experiences, is the acquisition of them. The problem is, that system can never be examined or discussed by an intelligence in possession of it, without that very dichotomy, invented by that same intelligence in order to examine and talk about it.
    —————

    I am convinced that biological structures are key.creativesoul

    Agreed, but even if they are there is as yet not enough knowledge for how they are.

    We may agree on a bunch of stuff, but I think I’m satisfied with logical explanations regarding human thought/belief and experience, whereas you’re….not so much?
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?


    All that, plus, I’d submit, that people in general are more conscious of their respective worldviews than they are of the metaphysics from which they are given.

    Cart before the horse, if there ever was such a thing.
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation


    HA!!! Yeah, sorry, bud. Just calls ‘em as I sees ‘em, donchaknow.

    I thought your Main Man was Chomsky anyway, so gimme credit for not throwing him under the transcendental bus, maybe?
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    We can, in a roundabout, absential way, observe these (“unconscious”) processes.Count Timothy von Icarus

    Yes, but such are the exceptions to the rule, rather then a metaphysical, albeit speculative, establishment of it.
    ———-

    …I don't actually think the whole modern focus on "beginning at the beginning" is actually helpful….Count Timothy von Icarus

    Not helpful….in what context? I guess it depends on where “beginning” actually is, relative to whatever follows.
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    ….“unconscious" processes, a concept unavailable to Kant?Count Timothy von Icarus

    “….a blind but indispensable function of the soul, without which we should have no cognition whatever, but of the working of which we are seldom even conscious….”

    “….For they pass, unconsciously, from the world of sense to the insecure ground of pure transcendental conception….”

    “….whether they be conscious or unconscious, be it of the manifold in intuition, sensuous or non-sensuous, or of several conceptions, is an act of the understanding….”

    He had a conception of the “unconscious”, and for “unconscious processes” nothing could be said anyway, so….
    —————

    Might it be valid to say that what is often labeled in Kant as "a priori" might be better described using modern concepts of "unconscious" processesCount Timothy von Icarus

    Even if it is valid to say, it remains whether the newly described terms are as sufficient in their support of the theory in which they originated, as the terms described under the original conditions are necessary for it. Modern conceptions grounding modern descriptions of formerly defined terms tend to refute, or at least obfuscate, the original theories. Might be called “re-structuring” though, in order to assuage conscience, which is tacit acknowledgement the original should have just been left alone. (yeah, I’m talkin’ to YOU, Arthur!!!).

    So, sure, to describe Kantian terms in modern understandings is just to have a newer theory. People been doing that since forever, right?
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    Not at all.Manuel

    Cool.

    And I am refusing to read Hegel.Manuel

    Way cool. I did “Science of Logic”, but my persuasions had already been set.
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    It depends on how you think about the systems of other figures……Manuel

    Do you think his predecessors constructed systems as complete as the three Citique’s entail?
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    an emphasis on the shift in perspective, more so that a entirely new mode of investigation.Manuel

    If no one had ever thought to consider the problem as he describes, wouldn’t an investigation into it be a new mode of investigation?

    “….It is extremely advantageous to be able to bring a number of investigations under the formula of a single problem. For in this manner, we not only facilitate our own labour, inasmuch as we define it clearly to ourselves, but also render it more easy for others to decide whether we have done justice to our undertaking. The proper problem of pure reason, then, is contained in the question: “How are synthetical judgements à priori possible?” That metaphysical science has hitherto remained in so vacillating a state of uncertainty and contradiction, is only to be attributed to the fact that this great problem, and perhaps even the difference between analytical and synthetical judgements, did not sooner suggest itself to philosophers. Upon the solution of this problem, or upon sufficient proof of the impossibility of synthetical knowledge à priori, depends the existence or downfall of the science of metaphysics.…”

    I agree there was a shift in perspectives, in an effort to connect the empirical with the rational rather than keep them separate, but it would have been impossible to connect them into a useful system without a new mode of investigation.
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation
    Kant is a metaphysician without knowing it….LFranc

    Good to know. Thanks.
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation


    That’s the rub, innit? How would we as humans comprehend any intelligence, other than the one by which humans comprehend anything? Which is why it cannot be said noumena are impossible, insofar as some intellect other than ours might actually use them. How could we possibly be justified in saying there is no such thing? But at the same time, how could we say there is, if we could never comprehend an intelligence that fails to meet the functional criteria of our own?
  • Kant and the unattainable goal of empirical investigation


    Correct. But Kant relegates noumena to the human faculty of understanding alone, and for that reason they are necessarily unattainable goals of science. For an intelligence other than discursive, or for which sensible intuition conditioned by space and time is not necessary, it cannot be known as impossible that noumena function in such system.
  • What’s your description of Metaphysics?
    Fundamental understandings are just what is taken for granted…..Janus

    I’d go as far as to say, beyond merely taken for granted, fundamental understandings are not even within Everydayman’s conscious considerations; that is to say, he hasn’t slowed himself down enough to figure out that he has them, and to know what they are.

    And while it may be true you make that case for yourself alone, given that all humans are intellectually and morally equipped in exactly the same manner, it follows any other of congruent rationality may come to the same conclusion. I mean…look….you convinced me, so…that ya go.
  • Lost in transition – from our minds to an external world…
    its likely we are speaking the same metaphysical language hereAmadeusD

    Yeah, but you know…..even though we share a language, it remains we may hold with different systems into which that common language fits. For me, “perception” is this and only does that, for you “perception” may be something quite different. So it is with CPR: it is a system, thought out and written as complete in itself. Whether it is right or not is irrelevant, it only matters that it is complete, and…..well, you know….logically comprehensible.

    I really, really like this formulation….AmadeusD

    And it answers how the thread title is backwards: the real transition loss, is from world to mind. Even science grants that, in the exchange of energy forms always and necesarily involves loss of data or information or whatever you want to call it. It follows that anything given to the mind, meaning anything exchanging domain from the external as one energy form, to the internal in a very different energy form, something will be lost in the transition.

    The secondary mark of truth is that for which the negation is also true. As such, it is true there is no possible loss of data or information or whatever you want to call it, from mind to world, re: the thread title, insofar as the mind creates or generates or composes of its own accord all the data with which it is concerned, it follows that a loss created from itself, is impossible.

    Long story short….loss in transition from mind to world? There isn’t any. Or maybe better yet, it makes no sense to say there is such a thing.
    ————

    Much appreciatedAmadeusD

    Thanks, but, I gotta say…whatever you got from me I got from CPR, which reduces to, insofar as there’s no measurable qualifier to support I’m that much smarter than you, you could have got it from CPR on your own. Might just be a matter of time spent on study. Personal attachment of value. Relative significance. Dunno.