 What then is the “first principle” of the Elementary Philosophy? It is the “Principle of Consciousness,” namely, the proposition that “in consciousness, the subject distinguishes the representation from the subject and the object and relates the representation to both” (Beyträge I, p. 167; 2003: 113). In this proposition, the term “representation” [Vorstellung] designates the basic synthetic unity between subject and object, which is constitutive of consciousness; the term “subject” designates the one who “is conscious” of whatever one is conscious of (the “conscious subject” or “subject of consciousness”); and the term “object” designates that “of which” the representation is a representation. Reinhold distinguishes between three senses of “object”: object as thing [Ding], that to which the representation refers; object as represented [Vorgestelltes], the intentional object of the representation; object as thing in itself [Ding an sich], i.e. considered in abstraction from the representation (Beyträge I, p. 171; 2003: 116).