The claims of sensation. Study on Leibniz

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Kantian claim that Leibniz had identified the sensibility with the confused representation of things. Section 1 outlines the Kantian perspective in order to discriminate the exact Leibnizian thesis from the consequence that Kant deduces from it, namely the intellectualization of phenomena. Section 2 examines the Leibnizian view, confirmes the main Kantian claim about it and rejects the scholars’ arguments according to which Leibniz had not conflated confused thought with sensibility. Section 3 argues against the second part of the Kantian claim and holds that Leibniz had not intellectualized the phenomena, at least in the sense that Kant understands it.