Causation; Knowledge, Theory of; Philosophy, German; Reason
action of the understanding from the power which mingles with it,
it is necessary to consider an erroneous judgement as the diagonal
between two forces, that determine the judgement in two different
directions, which, as it were, form an angle, and to resolve this
composite operation into the simple ones of the understanding and the
sensibility. In pure à priori judgements this must be done by means of
transcendental reflection, whereby, as has been already shown, each
representation has its place appointed in the corresponding faculty of
cognition, and consequently the influence of the one faculty upon the
other is made apparent.
[40] Sensibility, subjected to the understanding, as the object upon
which the understanding employs its functions, is the source of real
cognitions. But, in so far as it exercises an influence upon the
action of the understanding and determines it to judgement,
sensibility is itself the cause of error.
It is not at present our business to treat of empirical illusory
appearance (for example, optical illusion), which occurs in the
empirical application of otherwise correct rules of the understanding,
and in which the judgement is misled by the influence of imagination.
Our purpose is to speak of transcendental illusory appearance, which
influences principles—that are not even applied to experience, for in
this case we should possess a sure test of their correctness—but which
leads us, in disregard of all the warnings of criticism, completely
beyond the empirical employment of the categories and deludes us with
the chimera of an extension of the sphere of the pure understanding. We
shall term those principles the application of which is confined
entirely within the limits of possible experience, immanent; those, on
the other hand, which transgress these limits, we shall call
transcendent principles. But by these latter I do not understand
principles of the transcendental use or misuse of the categories, which
is in reality a mere fault of the judgement when not under due
restraint from criticism, and therefore not paying sufficient attention
to the limits of the sphere in which the pure understanding is allowed
to exercise its functions; but real principles which exhort us to break
down all those barriers, and to lay claim to a perfectly new field of
cognition, which recognizes no line of demarcation. Thus transcendental
and transcendent are not identical terms. The principles of the pure
understanding, which we have already propounded, ought to be of
empirical and not of transcendental use, that is, they are not
applicable to any object beyond the sphere of experience. A principle
which removes these limits, nay, which authorizes us to overstep them,
is called transcendent. If our criticism can succeed in exposing the
illusion in these pretended principles, those which are limited in
their employment to the sphere of experience may be called, in
opposition to the others, immanent principles of the pure
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account