SEEING ALL THINGS in SPACE Kant and the Reality of Space in the Context of Early Modern Philosophy
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Reports from the Department of Philosophy Vol. 43 SEEING ALL THINGS IN SPACE Kant and the Reality of Space in the Context of Early Modern Philosophy Jan Johansson University of Turku Finland Copyright © 2020 Jan Johansson SERIES EDITORS: Olli Koistinen Juha Räikkä Department of Philosophy University of Turku FI-20014 Finland ISSN 1457-9332 ISBN 978-951-29-7813-7 (print) ISBN 978-951-29-7814-4 (pdf) Painosalama Oy, Turku 2020 Written by Jan Johansson Doctoral Programme of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science Supervised by Professor Olli Koistinen Dr Hemmo Laiho University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science Reviewed by Professor Corey W. Dyck University of Western Ontario Dr Anssi Korhonen University of Helsinki Opponent Professor Corey W. Dyck University of Western Ontario Chairperson (custos) Professor Olli Koistinen University of Turku, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science Turun yliopiston laatujärjestelemän mukaisesti tämän julkaisun alkuperäisyys on tarkastettu Turnitin OriginalityCheck-järjestelmällä. The originality of this dissertation has been checked in accordance with the University of Turk quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In May 2006, at a seminar on Leibniz in Uppsala, with Lilli Alanen and John Carriero, I had the great pleasure and honour of making acquaintance with Olli Koistinen. I made a remark on Kant’s metaphysics, which Olli did not think was particularly accurate. But to my surprise, Olli later chatted me up, and it turned out that he had taken keen interest in Kant’s lectures on metaphysics. Olli’s understanding of the lectures resonated well with mine, namely that they reveal a more relaxed Kant, a Kant ready to unlock the keys to his metaphysics, once so familiar to his students. Unlocking Kant’s metaphysics involves, more precisely, understanding it in the context of early modern philosophy. Thus, Kant’s original attempt to uncover the ideality of the world, the soul, and God, starts to make sense once we consider what he has to say about their substantiality, which brings him into dialogue with early modern philosophy. The following year I attended a seminar, in the company of Camilla Serck-Hansen and Christel Fricke, arranged by the department of philosophy, at the University of Turku. For me personally, this was a first opportunity to air some thoughts about Kant’s metaphysics, and to familiarise myself with the Rationalist Circle. From that moment, the Rationalist Circle became my philosophical family. Here I want to take the opportunity to thank Olli Koistinen, Joseph Almog, Hemmo Laiho, Valtteri Viljanen, Arto Repo, Tapio Korte, Markus Nikkarla, Jani Sinokki, Matti Sarni, and Peter Myrdal, for all their critical comments and suggestions during the work with my dissertation. Throughout the years, I have benefited much from their deep knowledge of philosophy in general and early modern philosophy in particular. It is my hope that at least some of this work can live up to the high standards of the Rationalist Circle. During the academic year 2017-2018, I had the opportunity to stay in Turku, partly thanks to a grant from the University of Turku, which I want to acknowledge. This was one of the happiest years of my life. To this contributed not only the debates of the Rationalist Circle – often extended to Fabbes Café –, but also the practical help I received from the lovely Hanna-Mari Salonen. In particular, I am indebted to Hemmo Laiho for his help in all sorts of practical matters, among them reading an earlier version of the manuscript of this work. Thanks also to the valuable comments and swift work of the reviewers, Professor Corey W. Dyck and Doctor Anssi Korhonen, and the proof-reader, Professor Mark Dougherty. On a personal note, I want to thank my late father Gunnar, my mother Hildegard, and my sister Siv for all their encouragement and patience throughout the years. Finally, I want to thank my wife Gitta, who literally has a heart that is too big for her little body. Without your love, I am nothing. ABSTRACT One of the basic concepts of the metaphysics of the pre-critical Kant is the early modern, Leibnizian concept of the world as a synthetic whole of simple substances. Space is the order according to which these simple substances coexist, in the presence of God. Kant’s turn to critical philosophy contained a re-evaluation of Leibnizian metaphysics. Space is an ideal form of sensibility, not a real order of coexisting simple substances. This dissertation argues that Kant’s critical turn inspired him to outline a new science of subjective space – the Transcendental Aesthetic. Leibnizians argued that our knowledge of space is innate, but still abstracted from the common sense idea of extension. In the Critique of Pure Reason Kant responded that this misrepresents our knowledge of the subjective space, which is the topic of the Transcendental Aesthetic. An exposition of the marks of the concept of subjective space not only shows that space is a form of sensibility, but that it is a continuous, actually infinite whole, which precedes its potentially infinite parts. In Kant’s terminology space is an analytic whole, which gives a key to the ideality of space, according to this dissertation. One important topic in the literature concerns Kant’s awareness of the Leibnizian alternative that space might be both a form of sensibility and an order of coexistence. This dissertation claims that Kant could not rule out this alternative completely. However, in one aspect, Kant was successful: Leibnizians had to admit that continuity belongs to space, not as an order of coexistence, but as a form of sensibility. We see all things in continuous space, not in God. However, seeing things in space is analogous to seeing them in God. Keywords: metaphysics, early modern philosophy, space, ideality TIIVISTELMÄ Kantin niin sanotun esikriittisen metafysiikan yksi leibnizilaisista peruskäsityksistä on, että maailma on yksinkertaisten substanssien muodostama synteettinen kokonaisuus. Tässä näkemyksessä avaruus on järjestys, jonka mukaisesti yksinkertaiset substanssit ovat yhdessä olemassa Jumalan läsnäollessa. Kantin kriittiseen filosofiaan sisältyy leibnizilaisen metafysiikan uudelleen arviointi. Sen sijaan, että avaruus olisi yhdessä olemassa olevien yksinkertaisten substanssien reaalinen järjestys, avaruus on aistimellisuuden ideaali muoto. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitetään, kuinka Kantin kriittinen käänne sai hänet hahmottelemaan uuden subjektiivisen avaruuden tieteen – transsendentaalisen estetiikan. Leibnizilaiset väittivät, että tietomme avaruudesta on sisäsyntyistä, joskin abstrahoitu arkiajatteluunkin kuuluvasta ulotteisuuden ideasta. Puhtaan järjen kritiikissä Kant puolestaan väittää, että leibnizilaiset vääristävät tietomme subjektiivisesta avaruudesta, joka on aiheena transsendentaalisessa estetiikassa. Subjektiivisen avaruuden käsitteen erittely osoittaa, että avaruus on paitsi aistimellisuuden muoto, myös jatkuva, aktuaalisesti ääretön kokonaisuus, joka edeltää sen potentiaalisesti äärettömiä osia. Kantin terminologiassa avaruus on analyyttinen kokonaisuus, joka tässä väitöskirjassa esitetyn perusteella toimii avaimena avaruuden ideaalisuuteen. Tutkimuskirjallisuudessa tärkeä aihe on, miten tietoinen Kant oli leibnizilaisesta vaihtoehdosta, että avaruus saattaisi olla sekä aistimellisuuden muoto että yhdessä olemisen järjestys. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitetään, ettei Kant voinut kokonaan sulkea pois tätä vaihtoehtoa. Yhdessä mielessä Kant kuitenkin onnistui: leibnizilaiset olivat pakotettuja myöntämään, että jatkuvuus kuuluu avaruuteen aistimellisuuden muotona eikä yhdessä olemisen järjestyksenä. Näemme kaikki oliot jatkumollisessa avaruudessa, emme Jumalassa. Niiden näkeminen avaruudessa on kuitenkin analogista niiden näkemiselle Jumalassa. Asiasanat: metafysiikka, uuden ajan alun filosofia, avaruus, idealismi CONTENTS 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Previous Studies of the Dogmatic Period ................................................................. 3 1.4 Interpreting the Transcendental Turn......................................................................... 8 1.5 The Transcendental Turn and the Concept of Space ............................................... 10 1.6 Leibniz’s Analysis Situs and Kant’s Science of Space ............................................ 13 1.7 Rereading the Inaugural Dissertation....................................................................... 15 1.8 Towards a Reading of the Transcendental Aesthetic as a Phenomenology............. 18 1.9 Disposition ............................................................................................................... 22 2. Monads, Places, and Space in the Metaphysics of the Young Kant .............................. 27 2.1 Background: Leibniz on Monads, Places and Points of View ................................. 27 2.2 Physical Unities, Places, and Space: Wolff’s Response .......................................... 34 2.3 Monads, Places and Physical Influx: Knutzen’s Arguments ..................................