Kantian meditation

[timelets]

Of all 
     mental notions, 
                   that of conjunction 
is the only one 
               which cannot be given 
through objects, 

but can be originated 
           only by the subject 
                               itself,
because it is an act 
              of its purely 
                      spontaneous 
activity. 

...the possibility of conjunction 
                      must be grounded 
in the very nature 
                   of this act, 

and that it must be equally 
                valid for all conjunction,

and that analysis, 
          which appears to be 
                             its contrary, 
must, nevertheless, 
                   always presuppose it; 

for where the understanding 
                    has not 
                       previously conjoined, 
it cannot dissect 
                   or analyse, 

because only 
            as conjoined by it, 
must that 
            which is to be 
                           analysed 
have been given to 
              our faculty 
                     of representation.


Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason.