Abstract

The chapter proposes that Kant’s considered view is that imagination is part of sensibility, rather than a third thing distinct from sensibility and understanding or a sensible exercise of the understanding. Central to its argument is the claim that Kant defends a bipartite account of sensibility as containing two parts, sense and imagination, each of which realize the general logical, metaphysical, and function profile of sensibility in a specific way. In order to spell out the details, the chapter explores his distinction between the two parts of sensibility in light of the types of intuitions they generate, the mental processes they involve, and the cognitive function they perform. The upshot of this chapter is that once we appreciate Kant’s bipartite account of sensibility, we have reason to not only regard imagination as part of sensibility, but also to revise certain assumptions about intuition and sensibility on his view.