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Single Idea 19386

[from 'Critique of Pure Reason' by Immanuel Kant, in 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 4. Anti-realism ]

Full Idea

If we remove our own subject or even ....the senses in general, then all the constitution, all relations of objects in space and time, indeed space and time themselves would disappear, and as appearances they cannot exist in themselves, but only in us.

Gist of Idea

Without the subject or the senses, space and time vanish, as their appearances disappear

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B059/A42)

Book Reference

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.168


A Reaction

This is as clear a statement of anti-realist idealism as I have ever found in Kant. You can interpret him as a thorough scientific realist, but you have to put a tricky spin on passages like this. Or maybe only the 'appearances' of space and time vanish?