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Kant's "Argument from Geometry"
- Journal of the History of Philosophy
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 42, Number 2, April 2004
- pp. 195-215
- 10.1353/hph.2004.0034
- Article
- Additional Information
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Kant's 'argument from geometry' is usually interpreted to be a regressive transcendental argument in support of the claim that we have a pure intuition of space. In this paper I defend an alternative interpretation of this argument according to which it is rather a progressive synthetic argument meant to identify and establish the essential role of pure spatial intuition in geometric cognition. In the course of reinterpreting the 'argument from geometry' I reassess the arguments of the Aesthetic and illustrate the origin of Kant's view of the role of pure intuition in geometry.