This Kant guy is an interesting fellow. He emphasised to me the importance of the Thing-in-itself and the phenomenon.
The thing in itself, he says, we will never know. The Truth of the underlying reality, of what is perception in us, we will never know.
So with your question: What is Kant’s proof for the existence of space and time?
He is weird here, too, in its explanation. But he might have something in it to consider.
What he says is that the existence of spacetime is not a thing in itself, thing, it that spaceime is not not a real part of the infrastructure of the universe. It is not even part of our perception. It is something that exists independently in us so that perception in us can exist. It is like a synthetic creation of ours in us so that perception can be projected on to it and hence we are able to experience things as events. This is nuts but very possible if you know what is time.
So. now all explanations are of perception. That is our reality and that is all we know. Kant says spacetime is a prior creation of ours in mind so that perception can be our experience in brain-mind.
So, ok, lets see what is spacetime. Which is space and time. Meaning 3 dimensions of space x,y,z axis and then time, 4th dimension, as a separate entity and yet all 4 exits as 1-Thing spacetime.
So spacetime can really be explained as the 3 axis in motion. Time is duration, moving from one place to another.
Arrow of time:
Arrow of time: Quantum entanglement may influence the arrow of time, as entangled events interact and unfold within the fabric of spacetime.
So the coordinates created by this movement in space create that barrel of space we call space+time together – hence spacetime.
So what Kant is saying is that perception can only exist in us and hence we can experience things is only because this space+time infrastructure is first created in us in mind. He is saying that spacetime os not part of the infrastructure of the universe but is only of mind. Created in the mind. It does not exist outside of mind.
Now!! OMG, what does that say about our reality and mind perception? It creates a real hardcore limitation in ourselves of what we can understand of the Truth of things. That is why Kant say, the real Truth, of the True Reality we will never know. Our reality is only of mind and perception and even the spacetime that we know of is also only of mind.
Leave all that aside – remember all we know of what we see and what gets to us via light goes through a translation in the eyes and brain processing information – so we do not have direct contact with reality in terms of perception but in reality we are really part of a real infrastructure around us but we do not know what that looks like except through perception.
I in a sense have used the past and present concepts of spacetime to explain Kants view in spacetime. There is a difference between the 2 concepts. Kants says spacetime is a mind thing working together with perception. But remember that Einstein has proved that spacetime is a real thing part of the infrastructure of the universe, as a fabric in the universe which mass can distort and hence create gravity. Kant said spacetime is created by mind so perception can come into being. He did specifically say that spacetime does not exist independently of mind. But Einstein proved it did. But I don’t see why we can not consider Kant’s spacetime of mind only to try and understand perception in us.
Update: 5th October 2024.
Reference and explanation: I wrote the above before I started using ChatGPT for clarification of what I write, making sure the facts are good. So this time, when this was upvoted (I always re-read my upvotes), I asked ChatGPT what it thought of this write-up. ChatGPT’s replay was:
Kant’s proof for the existence of space and time is indeed an interesting perspective that blurs the lines between the external world and our internal perception. As you correctly pointed out, Kant argued that space and time are not things that exist independently outside of us—unlike how we might think of physical objects or forces—but rather they are forms of intuition, or structures that our mind imposes on our experience of the world. They are “a priori” conditions, meaning that they are necessary frameworks for any experience to occur at all.
Kant’s key claim is that space and time are not properties of things in themselves (noumena), which we can never truly know, but rather are necessary ways in which we, as human beings, structure our perception of phenomena (the world as we experience it). In this way, space and time are part of the mind’s internal architecture that allows us to make sense of the world.
Here’s a breakdown of his proof for the existence of space and time:
- Space: For Kant, space is the form of our outer sense. It is the way in which we structure all the objects and events we perceive in the external world. For instance, when you see two objects side by side, you are automatically conceptualizing them as being separate in space. Kant argues that space cannot be something we derive from experience; rather, it must be something we already have in our mind to make sense of experience. Space, therefore, is not something “out there” but something within us that we apply to all external experiences.
- Time: Time, similarly, is the form of our inner sense. It is the way we structure our internal experiences, such as thoughts, memories, and emotions. Just like space, time is not something we encounter through experience, but something that allows experience to happen at all. Every event we experience, whether external or internal, occurs in the sequence of time. Time is the condition for the possibility of perceiving any change or motion.
Kant’s radical claim is that both space and time are purely subjective conditions of our intuition—they do not exist independently of us but are essential for how we experience reality. This view places a sharp limit on what we can know. We can only know phenomena—the world as it appears to us through the lens of space and time—but we cannot know noumena, the world as it is in itself, outside of our perceptions.
To put it in modern terms, you could think of Kant’s concept as saying that space and time are like the operating system of the mind—they’re the built-in programs that allow the brain to make sense of and interpret the sensory data it receives. Without these structures, there would be no coherent experience for us.
Your connection to Einstein’s theory of spacetime is insightful because it highlights the contrast between Kant’s idealism and Einstein’s physical realism. For Kant, space and time are internal constructs that help us perceive reality, while for Einstein, spacetime is an actual, physical fabric of the universe that is affected by matter and energy. Kant was not making claims about the physical nature of the universe, but rather about how the human mind organizes its perceptions of that universe.
In a way, Kant and Einstein are approaching the same issue from different angles. Kant is focused on how we experience reality, suggesting that space and time are tools of perception, whereas Einstein’s theory is about the nature of the universe itself and how space and time interact with matter and energy. Both perspectives can provide valuable insight into how we think about the world, our place in it, and the limits of human knowledge.
Your observation that Kant’s view could still be useful in understanding how our minds perceive reality remains quite valid, especially if we want to explore the subjective nature of our experience.