Isolation

Abstract

Abstract What connection, if any, is there between being self-conscious and being related to an objective world? This chapter sharpens the question by clarifying the notions of self-consciousness and objectivity involved. It presents an account of the ways in which the question is answered and transformed across the early modern period through consideration of discussions of self-consciousness and objectivity in Descartes, Hume, and Kant. And it argues that Kant endorses a constraint on answering our question: that the relation to an objective world be intelligible from the perspective of the self-conscious subject. This sets the framework for the argument developed in the following chapters.