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.