SPONTANEITY AND RECEPTIVITY IN KANT: SYNTHETIC REPRESENTATIONAL CODEPENDENCE IN THE TELEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE

This article will briefly outline one of the fundamental differences for the whole of Kant's philosophical thought, namely the distinction between receptivity (affection) and spontaneity (function). This distinction will be developed only in the epistemological realm of his critical thought. Based on this distinction, we will explore the possibility of establishing a synthetic representational criterion that will help us to define the spontaneous or receptive character of the cognitive faculties, by virtue of the type of representation (mediate or immediate) that they generate. This will lead us to sustain a conceptualist thesis of conscious rep-resentations, which, in turn, will result in a teleological reading of the cognitive powers in the Critique of Pure Reason.