About the thing in itself as the cause of the sensible affection

Abstract

The Kantian remarks concerning the thing in itself as cause of the sensitive affection are certainly problematic, since they seem to contradict the Critical principle that states the unknowability of things in themselves, and seem to involve, on the other hand, an illegitimate use of the categories. In this paper I shall try to show that —notwithstanding the position of numerous interpreters— such remarks neither contradict the principle of Critical agnosticism nor involve an illegitimate use of the categories, being, at the same time, fully compatible with the fundamental principles of Kant's "Transcendental Aesthetics". Finally, I shall comment on the importance of the problem of affection in relation to a correct interpretation of the Critical doctrine.