From Subjectivity to Objectivity

Abstract This chapter shows how experiences of an (‘external’) world of objects are part and parcel of any experiences united in a single consciousness. In order to understand how Kant manages this crucial move, it becomes vital to understand how he conceptualizes the ‘self’ which unites its experiences according to the necessary unity of consciousness. Therefore, most of this chapter discusses two closely related parts of Kant's theory. The first associates the self with the activity which unites our experiences in consciousness. The second distinguishes the sensory and the intellectual features of the self. In this text, Kant defines philosophy in a strict way as dealing only with the ‘a priori’. This definition of philosophy is accepted by many great thinkers, such as Bennett who writes that the psychological question of how children de facto acquire concepts is ‘not the philosopher's business’.