The Word of the Week is: Ding an Sich
Definition: German–sometimes appearing as Dinge an Sich, which means ‘the thing itself.’
More about the term: When drawing out the distinction between ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ Ding an Sich refers to the thing objectively to itself. For instance, in Kantian terms,space and time was debated as to whether it was a necessary intuition (one of Kant’s twelve categories of the mind) belonging subjectively to appearances (Ersheinungen) or objectively to the thing itself (Ding an Sich). Kant believed that such spatiotemporal properties belong to Ersheinungen buy excluded such properties to the things as they really are, Ding an Sich.
Example of use: According to Kant one cannot know the Ding an Sich (thing itself) by pure reason; one is therefore limited to the sensual and shaping mental categories of the mind. That which comes through sensation the intuitions are shaped by the mind’s a priori categories. It is in this sense that Kant played an essential part in the development of the idea that man is himself the creator of the scientific world.
Recommended Reading (Available in the Sententias Store)
- Modern Theological German by Helmut Ziefle
- A Companion to Kant (Blackwell) or (Cambridge)
April 12, 2012 at 18:00