Sunday, November 2, 2014

Is Kant's description of space metaphysical?

If something that is metaphysical can be described as outside the limitation of human understanding or experience then it may be appropriate to designate Kant's idea of space as such.

Kant defines space as the foundation of our experiences in that in order to recognize the separation of sensations from one another and from oneself, space must already exist.  He states that space is a priori as we could not imagine a non-space, or even what a space actually may be, but in turn only the objects that occupy said space and their relationship with one another within this medium.

Kant then goes on to discuss space as a form of intuition.  In this regard space cannot be something that has been comprised of or caused by thought, as it is a natural entity existing in all individuals.  

Lastly Kant states that space is represented as an infinite quantity.  This further establishes the idea that space cannot be conceived as we cannot understand something that is infinite, but only try to understand it by our experiences of our physical and limited surroundings.

If space is something that cannot be observed, cannot be thought of or recognized in and of itself, and exists before we can even become conscious beings, then it seems to be a metaphysical entity, that like anything else that is metaphysical, is beyond our ability to define it accurately.

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