Phi 242 Sp11

 
Requirements: second Kant exercise (due: Wed. 4/20)
 
 

This is an exercise in a pair of concepts Kant uses in part II of the Prolegomena to introduce the idea of “pure concepts of the understanding.”

(i)

Give three examples (different from Kant’s) of a pair of sentences illustrating the difference between “judgments of perception” and “judgments of experience.”

(ii)

For one of these examples, explain briefly why it is an example.

Although Kant introduces the distinction between judgments of perception and judgments of experience in §18, your main resource for this exercise will be §20 and, especially, the footnote to it. His example there—i.e., the judgments When the sun shines on the stone it grows warm and The sun warms the stone—presents the two sorts of judgments as sentences differing in form. Your examples need not follow the same pattern—i.e., one where an adjective in one sentence corresponds to the main verb in the other—and I’d encourage you to look for some that do not, but this pattern can help you locate other examples. And, in any case, you will find it easiest to explain an example if you can state its pair of judgments using different sentences. Also, while there is no need to limit yourself to examples associated with the concept of causality, Kant considers others only briefly, so he gives you relatively little to go on.

As with the papers, I’ll be willing to accept these exercises on paper, but I’d prefer that you send a copy by e-mail (either as an attachment or in the body of a message). My address is helmang@wabash.edu.