For Kant this res or “something” that shows up in every now is the sensation, because sensation in general is the first-thing-given—in the Kantian-Cartesian sense of first-thing-given for inner sense. This res—this “something,” this “whatever-is-given,” this “present-first-of-all”—this is what Kant also calls “transcendental matter.” The fact that the schema of reality is sensation—which at first blush astounds us, and might seem completely unintelligible—is connected with the specific position of Descartes and with the specific conception of what is given first of all.

But every sensation, as Kant says, has a magnitude. That is, every “something,” every res, is something-present-now—now, and again now, and again now, and then no more. Every something that shows every now-moment is only for a while, for a certain sequence of nows. A certain period of time belongs to the res. [389] A “while” belongs to a res, and with that a determinate quantity—a this-much, i.e., a quantum of nows—belongs to the determination of reality itself. Accordingly, a certain highlighting of the nows underlies the act of sensation, so that the nows are understood, more or less explicitly, as countable and counted nows. But these highlighted, countable nows are thereby understood primarily as now-something, i.e., as a now that as such shows a “what” and a “something.” But what is primary in the timedetermination of this particular schema—i.e., in sensation—is not the counting-off of the nows. Rather, it is the highlighting of the nows as now-somethings—i.e., a highlighting of the nows which counts the nows as a group, a highlighting in which the “something” of these nows maintains itself throughout, i.e., perdures.

In the counted-through nows, which are always now-somethings, the present thing, as something that perdures, is able to meet the senses. Here the time-determination qua highlighting-of-the-nows, is carried out secundum realitatem [in accordance with reality]. It is not a production of time, as in the case with number; rather, as Kant says, in this case the time-determination is the filling-up of time. Time-filling means nothing but letting something encounter us in a countedthrough now-sequence. The counting need not be explicit. It can also remain undetermined. This synthesis speciosa that is the schema of quality, is, as Kant says, “the synthesis of sensation (perception) with the presentation of time” (B 184).

As you see, that is once again a very rough and easily misunderstood expression of the synthesis we are talking about. But our previous interpretation of the structure can clarify this expression in its proper sense. The now, if it is essentially a now-something, must be highlighted in order for there to be anything like sensing and a sensible at all. Sensatio as the schema of reality is a matter of letting something be present—a letting that simultaneously highlights time and