Abstract

In this paper I want to offer an interpretation of the notion of the transcendental object in Kant’s first Critique. The thesis to be presented and defended is that the transcendental object is the material cause of appearance. The interpretation is intended as an explication of Kant’s use of the expression “transcendental object,” not a Neo-Kantian use. It is intended, in other words, that the thesis be attributable to Kant, but it is to be taken as an explication and not a sheer report. To provide a warrant for the claim that the transcendental object is the material cause of appearance it is necessary to explicate certain Kantian terms and to relate the notion of the thing in itself to the transcendental object. It must be shown that the interpretation is grounded in the Critique of Pure Reason and that it provides a consistent reading of the text.