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About this quote

What does it mean?
All thoughts must connect to sensory experience, because without sensation nothing can be given to us.
In plain terms
Thought relies on sensory intuition.
What can you take from it?
Ground ideas in concrete experience.

Where it applies

  • learning
  • creative work

Putting it to work

  • use examples
  • link concepts to real data

Questions to consider

  • How much does perception shape thought?
  • Can we think without direct experience?

Another view

Abstract reasoning sometimes transcends immediate sensation.

More from Immanuel Kant

  1. All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

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  2. Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

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  3. For instance, if you have by a lie hindered a man who is even now planning a murder, you are legally responsible for all the consequences. But if you have stri…

    Permalink to quote #37

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