Previous Message said:
"I'm very grateful to DS who, off-line, has answered my question about the
acceptability of Hugo Munsterberg's reference in 1916 to 'the forms of the
outer world, namely, space, time and causality'.
"Quite rightly, DS says that these three 'categories' don't stand up
in 'Kantian' terms because they are already 'in here' and determine
cognition, perception and imagination for Kant."
I am curious about the need to continually understand these 'external'
categories as 'interior.' Surely Kant and Schopenhauer were right when
discussing the interface of subject with the 'outer' world, but, if I
remember correctly, Kant suggests things such as space and time are given
to us a priori.
Causality is not qua function 'given' to us; rather our understanding of
causality is produced through the system described by Schopenhauer. My
daughter wants to play with things we tell her are hot; if we allow her to
get burned she will learn the causal relationship between heat and pain.
But our understanding of causality cannot prepare us for certain quantum
mechanical phenomena, most notably and actual "spooky action at a
distance" (truly one of the greatest terms for a natural phenomenon!). Any
physicist worth his salt will tell you that causality is innate in the
universe, our understanding of it is not.
I think the work of Husserl, the most 'scientific' of the phenomenologists
(not intended as a slur on his character) suggested that these a priori
functions of time, space, and causality are aspects of the transcendental
subjectivity. Should we substitute 'space-time continuum' for
transcendental subjectivity?
It seems clear to me that the situation of the subject within the
aesthetic world of the cinema is split between this a priori world
of 'time' and the semtiotic / aesthetic representation of time in the
film. But I certainly agree that certain films affect the 'inner world' of
the subject to a great degree.
Best John
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