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Thing in itself

Philosophy
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The thing in itself is the reality of an object as it exists independently of human perception. It is the noumenal world, as opposed to the phenomenal world of appearances.

Detailed Definition
Kant's distinction limits knowledge to phenomena. In poetry, the thing in itself represents the world beyond language and concepts. Poets often try to access this realm through intense sensory imagery, attempting to capture the essence of things. This concept gives poetry a transcendental aspiration, a reach for the unmediated truth of existence that lies beyond our categories of thought.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem like "Ode on a Grecian Urn" strives for the thing in itself, the eternal, ideal form of beauty; The pure, unconceptualized image in an Imagist poem is an attempt to capture the thing in itself; The poet's desire for a direct, unmediated experience of the world is a pursuit of the thing in itself; The great, unapproachable "Other" in a poem by Wallace Stevens is a version of the thing in itself.
Additional Notes
Thing in itself (or "noumenon") is a term from Immanuel Kant's philosophy, referring to the reality of an object as it exists independently of human perception and cognition. It is the object as it is in itself, not as it appears to us (the "phenomenon"). Kant argued that we can never know the thing in itself, only the appearances filtered through our categories of understanding. In poetry, the thing in itself represents the world beyond language and concepts, the unmediated reality that poets often strive to reach. Poets try to access this through intense sensory imagery, attempting to capture the essence of things. This concept gives poetry a transcendental aspiration, a reach for the unmediated truth of existence.
Also Known As
Noumenon Ding an sich Reality-in-itself
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