SYNTHETIC A PRIORI LAW

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they inform the semantic content the sense constituted in the judging e xp e rie nc e. S e e a lso J U D G E ; M E A N IN G -C AT E G O R IE S ; P U R E LOGICAL GRAM MAR. SYNTHESIS. Synthesis is the joining together of what is not unified by its own nature or essence . Husserl uses the notion of synthesis in different co ntexts. In percep tion (Wahrne hm ung) , for e xa mple , the re is the syn th e tic ide ntifica tion of a singular object of pe rc ep tio n. In the experience of another subject , there is an apperceptive pairing in which the subject recognizes the other subject precisely as another subject (rather than an object). In a generalizing abstraction, there is the synthesis of like with like that underlies the apprehension of the individual, ideal species . The structure of living present with its intentional directedness in retention and protention to other phases of its own life is such that co nsciousness as a who le is essentially characterized as synthesis. Syntheses can be active or passive. See also ACT IV E SY N T H ESIS; APPERCEPTION ; G EN ERALIZAT ION ; PASSIVE GEN ESIS; PASSIVE SYNTHESIS. SYNTHESIS OF IDENTIFICATION. See IDENTIFICATION; SYNTHESIS. SYNTHETIC A PRIORI LAW. Synthetic laws and propositions are defined in contrast with analytic laws and propositions. The contrast is grounded in the fundamental distinction between purely formal categories and material regions. Whereas analytic a priori laws are founded purely on formal categories and are unaffected by all material concepts, synthetic a priori laws are founded on material concepts and the specific nature of the unified moments. The terms color and extension, for example, do not include a reference to one another as part of their meaning . Nevertheless, by virtue of its essence color is necessarily and universally, that is, lawfully, related to extension. The necessity of the principle A color cannot exist without some space that it covers is evident . Given that color does not as part of its meaning include a reference to something else, the necessity of the principle A color cannot exist without some space that it covers must be synthetic. So, while color, in virtue of its very content, is unthinkable and impossible without an association with another content, specifically a space that it covers, the notion of color does not analytically entail that of space. The principle A color cannot exist without some space that it covers is, therefore, a synthetic or material a priori truth . Any law that articulates a founding relationship and includes material concepts whose