Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

[ Materie ] see also accident , body , concepts of reflection , dynamics , form , mechanics , motion , phenomenology , phoronomy , substance In the critical philosophy Kant accords a comparatively limited role to the concept of matter. It is defined adjectivally as the ‘matter of appearance’ and as the ‘matter of knowledge’, with the former being ‘the appearance [which] corresponds to sensation’ (CPR A 20/B 34) and the latter that which is ‘obtained from the senses’ (A 86/B 118). It is always contrasted with form, and in conjunction with it comprises one of the four pairs of concepts of reflection. It signifies ‘the determinable in general’ as opposed to form, which is determination in general (A 267/B 323). As with all the concepts of reflection, matter and form are not anything in themselves but denote ways in which the understanding orients itself with regard to experience. Hence matter simply designates that in experience which is determined by the forms of intuition and the understanding; it is thus a term of reflection for ‘the things themselves which appear’ (A 268/ B 324), and is not an appearance or a thing in itself. In CPR matter is distinguished from substance, or the permanent in experience, since it ‘does not mean a kind of substance quite distinct and heterogeneous from the object of inner sense (the soul), but only the distinctive nature of those appearances ... log in or subscribe to read full text