[3] For the sake of uniformity _Vorstellung_ has throughout been translated by 'representation', though sometimes, as in the present passage, it would be better rendered by 'presentation'. [4] B. 74-5, M. 45-6. The distinction so stated appears straightforward and, on the whole,[5] sound. And it is fairly referred to by Kant as the distinction between the faculties of perceiving and conceiving or thinking, provided that the terms perceiving and conceiving or thinking be taken to indicate a distinction within perception in the ordinary sense of the word. His meaning can be stated thus: 'All knowledge requires the realization of two conditions; an individual must be presented to us in perception, and we as thinking beings must bring this individual under or recognize it as an instance of some universal. Thus, in order to judge 'This is a house' or 'That is red' we need the presence of the house or of the red colour in perception, and we must 'recognize' the house or the colour, i. e. apprehend the individual as a member of a certain kind. Suppose either condition unrealized. Then if we suppose a failure to conceive, i. e. to apprehend the individual as a member of some kind, we see that our perception--if it could be allowed to be anything at all--would be blind i. e. indeterminate, or a mere 'blur'. What we perceived would be for us as good as nothing. In fact, we could not even say that we were perceiving. Again, if we suppose that we had merely the conception of a house, and neither perceived nor had perceived an individual to which it applied, we see that the conception, being without application, would be neither knowledge nor an element in knowledge. Moreover, the content of a conception is derived from perception; it is only through its relation to perceived individuals that we become aware of a universal. To know the meaning of 'redness' we must have experienced individual red things; to know the meaning of 'house' we must at least have had experience of individual men and of their physical needs. Hence 'conceptions' without 'perceptions' are void or empty. The existence of conceptions presupposes experience of corresponding individuals, even though it also implies the activity of thinking in relation to these individuals.'[6] [5] Cf. p. 29, note 1. [6] Kant's account implies that he has in view only empirical knowledge; in any case it only applies to empirical conceptions.