Single Idea 5550

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance]

Full Idea

A substance is something that could exist as a subject but never as a mere predicate.

Gist of Idea

A substance could exist as a subject, but not as a mere predicate

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B149)

Book Reference

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.256


A Reaction

Interesting to see Kant asserting the idea of substance a century after many philosophers thought they had dispensed with this Aristotelian notion (e.g. Ideas 3628 and Idea 2714). It has crept back into modern metaphysics too (e.g. in Wiggins).

Related Ideas

Idea 3628 Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others [Gassendi on Descartes]