He begins by raising the question, 'What do we mean by the phrase 'an object of representations'?'[37] He points out that a phenomenon, since it is a mere sensuous representation, and not a thing in itself existing independently of the faculty of representations, is just not an object. To the question, therefore, 'What is meant by an object corresponding to knowledge and therefore distinct from it?' we are bound to answer from the point of view of the distinction between phenomena and things in themselves, that the object is something in general = _x_, i. e. the thing in itself of which we know only _that_ it is and not _what_ it is. There is, however, another point of view from which we can say something more about an object of representations and the correspondence of our representations to it, viz. that from which we consider what is involved in the thought of the relation of knowledge or of a representation to its object. "We find that our thought of the relation of all knowledge to its object carries with it something of necessity, since its object is regarded as that which prevents our cognitions[38] being determined at random or capriciously, and causes them to be determined _a priori_ in a certain way, because in that they are to relate to an object, they must necessarily also, in relation to it, agree with one another, that is to say, they must have that unity which constitutes the conception of an object."[39] [37] _Vorstellung_ in the present passage is perhaps better rendered 'idea', but representation has been retained for the sake of uniformity. [38] _Erkenntnisse._ [39] A. 104, Mah. 199. Kant's meaning seems to be this: 'If we think of certain representations, e. g. certain lines[40] or the representations of extension, impenetrability, and shape,[41] as related to an object, e. g. to an individual triangle or an individual body, we think that they must be mutually consistent or, in other words, that they must have the unity of being parts of a necessarily related whole or system, this unity in fact constituting the conception of an object in general, in distinction from the conception of an object of a particular kind. The latter thought in turn involves the thought of the object of representations as that which prevents them being anything whatever and in fact makes them parts of a system. The thought therefore of representations as related to an object carries with it the thought of a certain necessity, viz. the necessary or systematic unity introduced into the representations by the object. Hence by an object of representations we mean something which introduces into the representations a systematic unity which constitutes the nature of an object in general, and the relatedness of representations to, or their correspondence with, an object involves their systematic unity.'[42] [40] Cf. A. 105, Mah. 199. [41] Cf. A. 106, Mah. 200.