Kantian meditation

[timelets]

By the word 
             synthesis, 
in its most general 
                     signification, 
I understand 
      the process 
                of joining different 
representations to each other
                and of comprehending 
their diversity 
                  in one cognition.

But the synthesis 
                of a diversity 
(be it given a priori or empirically) 

is the first requisite 
                  for the production 
                                of a cognition, 
which in its beginning, 
indeed, 
                   may be crude and confused, 
and therefore in need 
                       of analysis — 

still, synthesis is 
          that by which 
                               alone 
the elements of our 
               cognitions 
                    are collected and united 
into a certain content, 

consequently 
it is the first thing 
                     on which we must 
fix our attention, 
                    if we wish to investigate 
the origin 
                           of our knowledge.

--- Immanuel Kant. The Critique of Pure Reason.