Title: Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (German)
Tags: 1

Q: Daß alle unsere Erkenntnis mit der Erfahrung anfange, daran ist gar kein Zweifel; denn wodurch sollte das Erkenntnisvermögen sonst zur Ausübung erweckt werden, geschähe es nicht durch Gegenstände, die unsere Sinne rühren und teils von selbst Vorstellungen bewirken, teils unsere Verstandestätigkeit in Bewegung bringen, diese zu vergleichen, sie zu verknüpfen oder zu trennen, und so den rohen Stoff sinnlicher Eindrücke zu einer Erkenntnis der Gegenstände zu verarbeiten, die Erfahrung heißt?
A: 1. Vocabulary List
German | English (Contextual) | Notes
die Erkenntnis | cognition / knowledge | The act of knowing or the knowledge gained.
die Erfahrung | experience | Empirical knowledge derived from the senses.
der Zweifel | doubt | Often used with daran (doubt about that).
das Erkenntnisvermögen | cognitive faculty | The power/capacity of the mind to know things.
die Ausübung | exercise / operation | Putting a faculty into action.
erwecken | to awaken / rouse | Metaphor for activating the mind.
der Gegenstand | object | The thing being perceived.
rühren | to touch / affect | Specifically affecting the senses.
die Vorstellung | representation | Vital Kantian term. A mental image or idea.
die Verstandestätigkeit | activity of the understanding | The active processing done by the intellect.
verknüpfen | to connect / link |
der rohe Stoff | the raw material | The unstructured sensory data.
verarbeiten | to process | Turning raw data into finished knowledge.
2. Sentence Structure Analysis (Subject, Verb, Object)
Because this is a complex compound sentence separated by a semicolon, it must be analyzed in two parts to make sense.
Part I: The Assertion
"Daß alle unsere Erkenntnis mit der Erfahrung anfange, daran ist gar kein Zweifel..."
- Subject: Kein Zweifel (no doubt).
- Verb: Ist (is).
- Object (Prepositional): Daran (about that).
  - Note: The word daran acts as a pointer referring to the entire preceding clause: "Daß alle unsere Erkenntnis mit der Erfahrung anfange" (That all our knowledge begins with experience).
Part II: The Justification (The "Denn" Clause)
"...denn wodurch sollte das Erkenntnisvermögen sonst zur Ausübung erweckt werden..."
This part is a rhetorical question explaining why knowledge begins with experience.
- Subject: Das Erkenntnisvermögen (the cognitive faculty).
- Verb: Sollte ... erweckt werden (should be awakened/roused). This is a Passive Voice construction with a modal verb.
- Agent (The "By What"): Wodurch (Through what / whereby).
  - Context: Kant asks: "Through what else should the mind be woken up, if not by objects?"
3. Detailed Clause Breakdown
To understand the flow, we must visualize the nesting. Kant describes the process of cognition in a chronological flow within the sentence.
1. The "If" Clause (Conditional)
...geschähe es nicht durch Gegenstände... (...were it not done by objects...)
- Grammar: This is the Konjunktiv II (Subjunctive). Standard German would be "wenn es nicht durch Gegenstände geschähe." Kant omits the "wenn" and moves the verb to the front.
2. The Relative Clause (What do objects do?) Kant lists two things that objects (Gegenstände) do to us:
...die unsere Sinne rühren... (...which affect our senses...)
...und teils von selbst Vorstellungen bewirken... (...and partly bring about representations by themselves...)
3. The Extended Infinitive (What does our Understanding do?) The objects stimulate our "activity of understanding" (Verstandestätigkeit) to do three specific actions with these representations:
1. diese zu vergleichen (to compare them)
2. sie zu verknüpfen (to connect them)
3. oder zu trennen (or to separate them)
4. The Final Result
...und so den rohen Stoff sinnlicher Eindrücke zu einer Erkenntnis der Gegenstände zu verarbeiten, die Erfahrung heißt?
Here, Kant defines the result. The mind processes the "raw material" (rohen Stoff) of sensory impressions into a specific type of cognition called Experience (Erfahrung).
4. Summary Translation
Here is a structural translation to help you map the German syntax to English logic:
"That all our knowledge begins with experience, [about that] there is absolutely no doubt;
for by what means should the cognitive faculty otherwise be awakened into exercise,
[if] it were not done by objects that affect our senses,
and partly bring about representations of their own accord,
and partly set our activity of understanding in motion, to compare these, to connect or separate them,
and thus to process the raw material of sensory impressions into a cognition of objects that is called experience?"
Key Takeaway for the Learner
The most difficult part of this sentence is the Subjunctive (Konjunktiv) usage:
- Anfange (Konjunktiv I): Used in the first clause to state a logical postulate.
- Sollte / Geschähe (Konjunktiv II): Used in the second half to propose a hypothetical scenario ("How would it happen, if it were not for objects...").