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Virginia Tech

Kant's Negative Answer to Molyneux's Question

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

While it has recently been argued that Kant's views about space in the Transcendental Aesthetic do not commit him to an affirmative answer to Molyneux's question, there has been very little attention given to the issue of what a Kantian negative answer would look like. The paper begins by defending the view that the arguments of the Aesthetic alone do not provide a direct answer to Molyneux's question. I will then argue that addressing Molyneux's question on Kant's behalf is much more complicated, requiring us to pay special attention to his views on the relationship between vision and touch, the specific sort of concepts that are relevant, and some issues involving the schemata for these concepts. To this end, I will examine the extent to which different considerations in each of these areas lead to radically different, competing answers to Molyneux's question. When difficulties surrounding both of these possible answers are examined, the modified framework that is left standing will support a negative answer.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Philosophy
Department dc:contributor.department
Philosophy
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Creek, Richard David
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Patton, Lydia K.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Ott, Walter R.
  • Pitt, Joseph C.

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:3070
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/48429

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Creek, Richard David. Kant's Negative Answer to Molyneux's Question. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/48429