Chapter 2: THE DEDUCTION OF THE PURE CONCEPTS OF THE UNDERSTANDING.

Section 1: THE PRINCIPLES OF ANY TRANSCENDENTAL DEDUCTION. (p. 120)

• Transcendental Deduction: the explanation of the manner in which concepts can relate a priori to objects.
• The deduction of pure concepts of the understanding is absolutely necessary:
  • Because they speak of objects through predicates of pure a priori thought, not of intuition.
  • Because they relate to objects universally.
    • Not being ground in experience, they cannot exhibit any object that might serve as ground for their synthesis.
    • We need to prove how subjective conditions of thought can have objective validity (in reference to the Table of Categories).
    • Uses example of cause and effect (p. 124): we need to prove it a priori.

Transition to the Transcendental Deduction of the Concepts (p. 125)

• Only two ways synthetic representations and their objects can establish connection:
  • The object must make the representation possible as is the case with empirical.
  • The representation makes the object possible.
• Two conditions under which knowledge of an object is possible:
  • Intuition: it is given through appearance.
    • This condition lies a priori in the mind as the formal ground of objects.
  • Concept: through which an object is thought corresponding to this intuition.
• Concepts of objects in general underlie all empirical knowledge as its a priori condition.
• Therefore, the objective validity of the categories as a priori concepts rests on the fact that so far as the form of thought is concerned, through them alone does experience become possible.

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