Abstract

German words ending in ›-nis‹ can have either the female or the neutral gender. As is well known, in his Cri-tique of Pure Reason as well as in other writings, Kant often shifts from the neuter to the feminine for words having the mentioned ending, without thereby leading to a difference in meaning. However, in German the word »know-ledge« does not only have an epistemological meaning, but a legal sense as well. It has the meaning of »arbitration award, a judge ́s deci-sion, verdict«. In the present article I try to prove that Kant occassionally uses the word »knowledge« in the legal sense rather than in the epistemological sense.