Discursive Cognition in Classical German Philosophy

Kant’s critical philosophy advances the thesis that our understanding is essentially discursive and not intuitive. Although this discursivity thesis is central to Kant’s critical
project, it is often not explicitly problematized but portrayed as self-explanatory rather than controversial. However, Kant’s rationalist predecessors as well as his idealist
successors seem to contest the discursivity thesis. Furthermore, since Kant’s discursivity thesis contains many elements, it is far from being obvious how these elements figure in
a unified account of discursive understanding. This conference will discuss Kant's discursivity thesis, its reasons and consequences.