In this paper I shall investigate the meaning of the distinction, proposed by Kant in section 18 of his first Critique, between objective and subjective unity of apperception for the entire deductive program of this work. Firstly, I shall present my interpretation of the main steps and goals of the transcendental deduction of the categories of understanding. Secondly, I discuss the existence in section 18 of an argumentative strategy grounded upon the interpretation of the subjective unity of apperception as a judgment of perception about "subjective objects". Finally, I argue that a so construed deduction does not amount to a consistent demonstration of the possibility of objective cognition, so far it deflects from the task of demonstrating that the categories are conditions of the possibility of our pre-judicative perception of sensibly intuited objects.
Cognition; Apperception; Deduction; Inner sense