ANALYTIC UNITY OF APPERCEPTION

[B133] Kant writes, "the analytic unity of apperception is possible only under the presupposition of a certain synthetic unity." Namely, the unity of apperception in its most trivial, "analytic" sense (e.g., the sense in which it is trivially true that all my representations are mine) is grounded by the transcendental unity of apperception created by the action of the understanding in the synthesis of apperception. [B134] Since "combination does...lie in the objects", this synthetic unity is required; this "is an affair of the understanding alone, which itself is nothing but the faculty of combining a priori, and of brining the manifold of given representations under the unity of apperception. The principle of apperception is the highest principle in the whole sphere of human knowledge".