So we've just hade the first seminar of the course and i'll just reflect a little bit about what we were talking about and what i've learned.
First of all I would like to say it was hard to understand Kant after both reading the text and after the first lecture and even if I still don't think I get the whole idea i've come closer to understanding what he is talking about. The following is what I got out of the seminar and what i think is really interesting.
The world as we know it, is built upon forms of intuition like time and space and categories of understanding like "unity", "limitaion", "substance" and "possibility". The forms of intuition like time & space are not the world but makes the world what it is. It sounds a bit weird but if you think about it, thats how it is. Time and space gives the world a meaning and the world i structured by meaning. Without time i would be writing this blog right now because i would't be able to see a future where this blog would be read or examined. It's the same with space. I can't imagine a world without space, but maybe a space without a world.
Kant tries to figure out and articulate how the world is structured, one thought that i've gotten from all of this is that there is no world independent of us since we are the world and thats how we should look at things. The world you could say is structured by meaning. What Plato then says that we don't see the world with our ears and eyes we see it through them, he may refered to that we see the world through our experiences and our categories of understanding that Kant talks about. We see the world with a meaning not as the thing itself. In this way you could say he challenges naturalistic and sceintific way we see the world today. In his saying "Thus far it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to objects..." instead "...we assume that objects must conform to our cognition. So instead of saying that A is B, for example "depression is the lack of signal substances in the brain" A is A because of our experiance (time) and what we've made it. It's an intersesting thought.
Deep thoughts on a deeeeep theme! Haha. I like your post and I find it interesting. The sentence: "I can't imagine a world without space, but maybe a space without a world." is especially thoughtful. And a bit depressing. Seriously, a space without a world? Haha. I see your (and Kant's c:o) point. And I kind of agree, though I don't fully accept it. I get the idea that we can't really perceive things a priori but only a posteriori - which I interpret as based upon experiences. The sentence "How can we know anything about the world a priori?" really got stuck in my head. Either because of the seminar leader kept repeating it (...) or because it's so weird.
SvaraRaderaHowever, if there isn't a world, how can space ever be defined?
Very nice post and well-written!
Thank you Emelie! I agree deep thoughts! But it's fun to sometimes dive deep and se what comes up!
Radera