ABSTRACT
Why do scientific discontinuity and change have such disturbing consequences for philosophy? Their recognition snaps the privileged relationship between subject and object which, in classical philosophy, uniquely ties thought to things. Thought cannot now be viewed as a mechanical function of given objects (as in empiricism); nor can the activity of creative subjects be regarded as endowing the world with things (as in idealism); nor is any combination of the two possible. In short, it becomes necessary to distinguish clearly between the unchanging real objects that exist outside the scientific process and the changing cognitive objects that are produced within science as a function of scientific practice. Let me call the former intransitive and the latter transitive objects; the theoretical space in which to talk about them will accordingly become the intransitive and transitive dimensions respectively of the philosophy of science.
