Kant's Transcendental Aesthetic: Space, Time, and A Priori Knowledge

The Transcendental Aesthetic: Foundations of Knowledge

Kant considers human knowledge to be derived from two equally necessary powers: sensitivity and understanding. According to this, our knowledge involves something a posteriori, which is the information our senses receive, and something a priori, which is our understanding ordering all the information proceeding from outside. The first is the material element (the insights), the second, the formal (the concepts).

As Kant famously stated: "Intuitions without concepts are blind, concepts without intuitions are empty."

The Role of Transcendental Aesthetics

The Transcendental Aesthetic is the part of this work that analyzes the operation of our ability to sense knowledge.

Moreover, Kant called Transcendental all knowledge that deals, not with objects, but with how we know them, insofar as it is possible to do so a priori. A set of these concepts is called Transcendental Philosophy.

Thus, it is vital to establish the conditions by which some knowledge is possible a priori. Transcendental knowledge is a kind of metacognition, which is the knowledge of how we know.

A Priori Elements of Sensitivity

The Transcendental Aesthetic shows the a priori elements of sensitivity—elements that, without experience, are used to study it. The a priori elements of sensibility are space and time.

Sensitivity is the perception of objects and the manner in which these objects are given to us. However, there can be no experience of anything that does not take on a spatial and temporal character. For example, we cannot imagine something that does not have any particular size or duration.

Space and Time as Preconditions for Experience

It follows the following conclusion: space and time are not drawn from experience, but are preconditions to it. That is, every object to be perceived must meet the conditions set by space and time (here reflects the Copernican Revolution).

So, when our senses do receive different impressions about an object, like a flower, we group these impressions occupying the same space, as we do not attribute them to the same object otherwise. Similarly, we never perceive the same object simultaneously occupying different places.

The Phenomenon: Matter and Form

The impressions given to us by the senses Kant calls the phenomenon (or matter). This matter is subject to the order imposed through our understanding. He calls their a priori conditions the form of the phenomenon.

For his part, Kant defines the phenomenon as the compound of matter and form, i.e., the object of an empirical intuition.