A Kantian Interpretation of Demonstrative Reference :: Philosophy Philosophical Kant Essays

A Kantian Interpretation of Demonstrative ReferenceABSTRACT According to Kant, we refer to what is out there in the world by acting a demonstrative act, like pointing at an object with a finger. A Kantian mode of demonstrative reference is characterized by the existence of a real, 2-placed affectional relation between an intuiting subject and the referent. Parsons suggests that Kantian learning is both singular and immediate, and immediacy demands an object of intuition to be present, a condition clearly cheery by objects within our immediate perceptual field. But since we do not have an immediate relation with remote objects, the scope of our demonstrative reference is ill restricted by intuitional immediacy. I wish to develop a global Kantian intuition in order to extend the scope of demonstrative reference. Kants ontology of dummy entails that the global representability of space be given to an intuiting subject as a form of intuition. According to Melnick, Kantian intuition is a kinematic operation which involves directing maintenance and moving about. To make contact with the world, the subject must move away from its locale although a spatially remote object (W) is not immediately present, we foundation moorage our location by taking a path such that W will become so. Once we are close enough to be affected by W, we will be able to point at W and say This. Thus, the intuitive scope of demonstrative reference is globalized as we shift our location. IA. The Semantic Content of ThisIt has been suggested that Kantian intuition is analogous to the demonstrative term This. According to Sellars, to intuit is to represent a this. The demonstrative This provides a semantic model for Kantian intuition, but with some restriction. We can certainly apply the demonstrative This to individual items which are not proper objects of intuition, e.g., This theory, This thought, or This proposition. The singularity of This is meagre to characterize Kantian intuition . Since space and time are the forms of intuition, an intuitable object must have a spatio-temporal location. Hence, the demonstrative This is a semantic model for Kantian intuition only if it is spatio-temporized.We can spatio-temporize This by performing a demonstrative act. The type of a demonstrative act can be characterized by a 2-placed de re ostension as suggested by Howell. The function of a de re ostension is to indicate the presence of an object in our perceptual field.Pointing at an object with a finger is an compositors case of a 2-placed de re ostension par excellence.