Kant’s Theory of Empirical Concept Formation

In this paper I am going to undertake a preliminary examination of the problem of empirical concept formation in Kanťs critical philosophy. I will follow a line of investigation opened up by Professor Schrader in his now near-classic article entitled "Kanťs Theory of Concepts/' In this article there are two claims of particular interest. These are ( i ) that for Kant empirical concepts are not derived by abstraction from sensible intuition,2 and (2) that were Kant to be completely consistent, he would have to regard both pure and empirical concepts as a prion.3 By examining these two claims and by rejecting an abstractive mode of origination for empirical concepts (with Professor Schrader, although for different reasons), I hope to illuminate the requirements that a theory of empirical concept formation in Kant would have to meet.