Kant - Experience, The Condition of The Possibility Of.

According to Kant, when we place together the manifold of empirical intuition we necessarily do so sequentially (pg 209). This is because empirical intuitions comprising a particular manifold have an objective relation. Such an objective relation is determined by, and distinguishes, an objectvi because "the sum of these representationsvii, is viewed as their object"(pg 221). The objective relation requires temporal sequence with every perception following anotherviii according to a necessary orderix. A rule, contained in the understanding, maintains this necessary order a priorix. This is because the rule is not contingent on experience but on the object itself in itself and connects the "[manifold of] representations in a specific manner"(p224) in timexi.

Kant encapsulates his argument in the proof of a principle of sufficient reason: "All empirical knowledge involves the synthesis of the manifold by the imagination. This synthesis is always successive [...]. The order is determined in the object, or, [...alternatively, it...] is an order of successive synthesis that determines an object"(pg 227). Thus given a preceding appearance, the successive appearance is predictable, with absolute certainty, as caused by the precedent.

Kant's argument contradicts Hume's by positing a necessary connection between successive appearances. However, it seems Hume's "constant conjunction" serves the same purpose as Kant's necessary rule of connection and there is no way of proving or disproving either.

Word Count: 339

i "Experience is an empirical knowledge [..] which determines an object through perceptions" (p 208)

ii We can only experience in time. Time cannot be perceived therefore relations in time have to be prior to experience or a priori and consequently necessary.

iii Experience is based on "[...]the time order of the manifold empirical consciousness"(p209). Each empirical intuition is arranged according to a time series in within a synthesis of perceptions.

iv "The existence of the manifold has to be represented in experience [...] as it exists objectively in time"(pg209). The object determines the necessary time relation of empirical intuitions and vice versa.

v This is a rule of succession in time.

vi The converse is true: the objective relation determines the object. The object is a thing in its self while the individual representations are not.

vii These representations are the manifold of empirical intuitions.

viii An event that has none preceding it is not objectively apprehensible (pg 221) but merely subjective (pg 222).

ix The order cannot be reversed (p225) and "if the state which precedes is posited, this determinate event follows necessarily" (p225).

x Concepts of understanding are understood to hold a priori.

xi Time cannot be perceived therefore relations in time (time order) have to be prior to experience or a priori and consequently necessary.