Temporal Passage and Kant's Second Analogy

Author: Bardon, Adrian

Source: Ratio, Volume 15, Number 2, June 2002 , pp. 134-153(20)

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $48.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

In this essay I address the question of the reality of temporal passage through a discussion of some of the implications of Kant's reasoning concerning the necessary conditions of objective judgement. Some theorists have claimed that the attribution of non-relational temporal properties to objects and events represents a conceptual confusion, or `category mistake'. By means of an examination of Kant's Second Analogy, and a comparison between that argument and Cassam's recent exploration of an argument regarding the necessity of the conceptualisation of ourselves as spatially located, I draw out a consequence of Kant's argument: namely, that the representation of temporal becoming is a necessary condition of objective judgement and an a priori element in the representation of objects of experience. I finish by explaining why this would show that the attribution of temporal becoming to objects and events cannot be described as a category mistake.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9329.00180

Affiliations: 1: University of Massachusetts Commonwealth College, USA

Publication date: 2002-06-01