Kant's Refutation of (Problematic) Idealism Problematic Idealism (Berkeley's idealism, not that of Leibniz) is the thesis that we cannot prove that objects outside us exist. This results directly from Descartes' proposition that the only thing I cannot doubt is that I exist (solipsism).
If solipsism is true, it seems to raise the problem that we cannot prove that objects outside us exist . But Kant refutes this thesis by his observation that we cannot observe the passing of time (in itself inextended or nonphysical) unless there is some fixed inextended substrate on which to observe the change in time. Thus there must exist a fixed (only necessarily over a small duration of time) nonphysical substrate to reality. A similar conclusion can be made regarding space. Here is an alternate account of that argument: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-transcendental/#RefIde "Dicker provides a compelling initial representation of Kant's argument (Dicker 2004, 2008): 1) I am conscious of my own existence in time; that is, I am aware, and can be aware, that I have experiences that occur in a specific temporal order. (premise) 2) can be aware of having experiences that occur in a specific temporal order only if I perceive something permanent by reference to which I can determine their temporal order. (premise) 3) No conscious state of my own can serve as the permanent entity by reference to which I can determine the temporal order of my experiences. (premise) 4) Time itself cannot serve as this permanent entity by reference to which I can determine the temporal order of my experiences. (premise) (5) If (2), (3), and (4), are true, then I can be aware of having experiences that occur in a specific temporal order only if I perceive persisting objects in space outside me by reference to which I can determine the temporal order of my experiences. (premise) (6) Therefore, I perceive persisting objects in space outside me by reference to which I can determine the temporal order of my experiences. (1?5)" Roger Clough, rclo...@verizon.net 10/23/2012 "Forever is a long time, especially near the end." -Woody Allen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.