Single Idea 22006

[catalogued under 11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / b. Transcendental idealism]

Full Idea

The concepts that make sensory experience possible are not innate, but are generated by the spontaneity of the human mind itself as it shapes our experiences in to judgemental form.

Gist of Idea

The concepts that make judgeable experiences possible are created spontaneously

Source

report of Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781]) by Terry Pinkard - German Philosophy 1760-1860 01

Book Reference

Pinkard,Terry: 'German Philosophy 1760-1860' [CUP 2002], p.36


A Reaction

Pinkard emphasises this creative spontaneity of the mind as a key idea in Kant, and in the generation that followed him. An account is needed of how the spontaneity matches reality, rather than being private. What about words (like 'telephone').