Abstract for the Kant in Asia
International Conference
at Hong Kong Baptist
University
20-23 May 2009
Anita Leirfall,
“Kant on the Dialectic between Subject
and Space”
In
his 1768 Essay, Kant presents an
analysis of space as a ground of all
our representations. As such a ground, space is “absolute”, that is, in a
certain sense unlimited by the
different relations and directions in space.
Simultaneously, the subject appears as a limited
object in space. As representations, both the unlimited space and the
limited bodily representation of the subject in space have their common origin in the subject: The subject
presents space as a conditioning ground for the possibility of all spatial
representations while it at the same time appears as an object in space. This
creates a spatial paradox which Kant tries to
come to terms with through his dialectic analysis of the relation between subject
and space in this work. I intend to show how Kant’s dialectic analysis in the
1768 Essay displays certain analogies
to the thinking of a dialectics between the finite and the infinite in
traditional Chinese philosophy.