Regarding skeptical doubts about the external world, Kant turns from the approach of dialectical illusion in the Dialectic to the Refutation of Idealism in the Analytic, missing an antinomy of Other Minds, which is considered here. Taking a clue from Hume, who once aroused Kant from his dogmatic slumbers, the way back to the transcendental aesthetic, and the basis of experience of the other is found in the a priori experience of respect, the empirical experience of a vicarious feeling, and a multi step recovery of the communicability of affect, combined with the concept of the other. Even if vicarious feelings are not an ontological bridge between first-person and third-person perspectives, they are at least an experiential thread knitting together our shared joys and suffering. Thus, the proud name of a proof of other minds gives way to a modest analysis of interhuman relations. For further particulars see – KantOtherMindsShort20090531 Please give me the benefit of your comments, criticisms, impertinent feedback, remarks, etc.
Categories: Other Minds, Philosophy
Empathy Lessons 