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Space, Time, Categories, Mechanics, and Consciousness: On Kant and Neuroscience

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Abstract

Kant (1724–1804) is rarely mentioned in modern neuroscience publications, and equally rarely are insights from the neurosciences discussed in works on Kantian philosophy. In this essay I present a correlation, not a confrontation, between Kant in the ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ and the neurosciences on space, time, categories, mechanics, and consciousness in order to highlight their mutual importance. My conclusion will be that Kant is still important for modern neuroscience, although historically he lacked all relevant data and concepts about the brain, and that the insights from neuroscience are equally important for philosophy.

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Acknowledgements

This essay owes much to my teachers, M Fierz and R Jost, who at the ETH in Zürich successfully combined excellent mathematical physics with history and philosophy. I am grateful to the late V Henn for collaboration on vision and eye movements, to E Engeler and C Koch for discussions on consciousness, to G Buszaki, J Fröhlich, M-C Hepp-Reymond, HD Mutschler and the referee for critical remarks, and to K Osterwalder for stimulating my interest in philosophy.

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  1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETHZ, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland

    K. Hepp

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Communicated by Ivan Corwin.

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Hepp, K. Space, Time, Categories, Mechanics, and Consciousness: On Kant and Neuroscience. J Stat Phys 180, 896–909 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-020-02551-x

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