17th/18th Century German Philosophy

This chapter explores Cicero’s reception in the German Enlightenment, a topic that has garnered less scholarly attention compared to his influence in the Anglosphere. Focusing on Johann Joachim Spalding and Christian Garve as case studies, we highlight Cicero’s profound and often underappreciated impact on German intellectual thought, particularly in shaping ideas about the human vocation (Bestimmung des Menschen)—a legacy that extends even to the towering figure of the German Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant.

G. W. Leibniz on Making Knowledge Sensible · G. W. Leibniz’s contribution to logic and a propositional theory of truth, based on the idea that concepts are composed of definitional notes, has been considered the core of his philosophical system and metaphysics. However, Leibniz thought that there are other forms of knowledge that are perceptual and, therefore, non-propositional and non-conceptual. This essay explores forms of non-conceptual knowledge and argues that they depend on the imagination. Despite the distinction between conceptual and (...) non-conceptual forms of knowledge, there are two senses in which conceptual knowledge depends on non-conceptual knowledge : there is a constitutive sense in which non-conceptual knowledge has a constitutive function because it allows one to conceive of beings in concreto, and thus anchors human knowledge to reality ; there is a second sense in which non-conceptual knowledge has the function of making imaginable intellectual concepts that could not be other- wise represented by the human mind. The essay shows that these functions are interrelated. (shrink)

The study explores how Kant's critical philosophy enables us to develop new ideas and find original, exemplary aesthetic forms. Theoretical productivity is a subjective process of change over time that affects beliefs and the way they are held to be true. On the one hand, Kant's intellectual production is determined by universal cognitive capacities, on the other hand it is informed by empirical, historical experience. The development of innovative thought and original aesthetic forms is based on an intertwining of productive (...) imagining, productive self-thinking and orienting design. With Kant, theoretical productivity can be understood as both determinable and open-ended intellectual activity. Both cases necessarily presuppose theoretical freedom. (shrink)

The present paper has two objectives. First, it explicates the story, initially portrayed by Eckart Förster (2012), that allegedly philosophy started with publishing of Kant’s CPR and ended a quarter century later when Hegel’s Phenomenology of Mind appeared. We address the questions in what sense this happened and how is this development to be interpreted? Secondly, we demonstrate that similar radical transition from new, “true” beginning of philosophy to its apparent finishing took place in two other, high profile occasions in (...) the history of Western philosophy, in two key points of its development: in the years 390–365 BC, between the early and the late Plato, and between 1898 and 1922, between Russell and Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. These three short-lived, spectacular transitions from philosophy’s alleged start to its alleged ultimate accomplishment give us good reason to speak about a specific 25-years principle in philosophy. In a peculiar way, this principle reveals philosophy’s true nature. (shrink)

Mike Olson and I have co-edited a collection of essays devoted to Georg Forster and more broadly to the significance of natural history as a shaping factor for philosophers during the German Enlightenment. Our thanks to Carl Niekirk for the invitation to curate this special section of the Lessing Yearbook (Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2024), pp. 73-176. This is our introduction to the collection.

Why was mythology of vital importance for the romantics? What role did mythology play in their philosophical and literary work? And what common sources of influence inspired these writers across Britain and Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century? In this wide-ranging study, Owen Ware argues that the romantics turned to mythology for its potential to transform how we see ourselves, others, and the world. Engaging with authors such as William Blake, Friedrich Schlegel, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Friedrich von Hardenberg (...) (Novalis), and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ware shows why they believed that neither perception nor reason alone can sustain a vision of the unity of all things. A new mode of cognition is necessary, they claimed, one that revives the poetic origin of mythology and reveals our own mythmaking powers. _Return of the Gods_ investigates the rise of mythology in the British and German traditions and the romantics’ practices of reinterpreting old myths and inventing new ones. Their shared aim was nothing less than to elevate the human imagination to higher stages of self-development in which philosophy and poetry, as well as intellect and imagination, form an integrated whole. Far from calling us to return to the past, the romantics’ work on mythology points us to a future where we can live in harmony with the personal, social, and natural worlds we inhabit. Owen Ware combines intellectual history with philosophical analysis and literary criticism to offer a bold reflection on why mythology mattered for the romantics—and why it still matters today. (shrink)

In 1753, the Berlin Academy announced that the focus of the prize essay contest of 1755 would be optimism, with entrants required (among other things) ‘to put forward arguments that will be thought most fitting to confirm or destroy this system’. In line with these instructions, entrants submitted essays that were either pro- or anti-optimism. This was to the dismay of one of the judges of the contest, André-Pierre Le Guay de Prémontval (1716–1764), who had, by his own admission, surreptitiously (...) attempted to influence the entrants by sketching out a ‘middle point’ between the polarized pro- and anti-optimist positions in a series of books published between 1754 and 1755, namely Thoughts on Freedom, The Diogenes of d’Alembert, and On Chance under the Rule of Providence. The aim of this essay is to elucidate and historically contextualize Prémontval’s highly original ‘middle point’, as outlined implicitly in the aforementioned books and much more explicitly in a series of essays published after the essay contest had concluded. (shrink)

In this work I seek to explain the relationship between the substantially different characterizations of the public sphere made by Kant. In his writings on the Enlightenment, the productive component of this space is emphasized and the conditions that allow social and political progress to be fostered are identified. On the other hand, in the texts on the idea of a universal history, its antagonistic dynamics are rather emphasized. At first glance, the teleological history according to a plan of nature (...) seems to relegate the public sphere and the public use of reason to a secondary role. However, given the epistemic status of the philosophy of history, I will seek to highlight that, on the contrary, this regulative idea only has philosophical significance due to the effects of its public dissemination. Thus, what motivated the elaboration of a philosophy of history was rather the political potential of public thought, and, thus, the teleology of history is secondary to the conception of the public sphere. (shrink)

Liberados el romanticismo y el idealismo del lastre secular de su vínculo imaginario con la “catástrofe alemana” deviene una vez más posible recurrir a ellos para repensar los problemas teóricos y prácticos del presente y localizar nuevos instrumentos conceptuales para su solución. En este contexto recobran interés numerosos temas que fueron objetos privilegiados de reflexión por parte de los pensadores románticos e idealistas. El romanticismo exaltó la Revolución Francesa como un acontecimiento epocal de reivindicación de los derechos de los individuos (...) contra la opresión de las formas anquilosadas de la religión y la organización estatal. Los pensadores románticos se rebelaron contra el orden burgués en todas sus formas, contra la pauta ubicua de la razón económico-instrumental. Para Kant, lo que es útil e intercambiable no posee dignidad, sino precio. El rechazo romántico de la exhaustiva reducción del mundo a mercancía conduce a la recuperación del valor infinito de la naturaleza, en esa medida, a su “reencantamiento”. En una misma línea, el romanticismo preconiza tendencialmente todos los fenómenos no cuantificables, aquéllos que no permiten ser calculados en términos mercantiles: la corporeidad, el erotismo, la pasión, la imaginación y la fantasía, el arte y la poesía, lo telúrico, la diversidad individual y cultural. El idealismo, por su parte, busca una síntesis entre la concepción ilustrada del mundo material y la visión pre-moderna del mismo. El resultado de esa mediación es la explicitación de las estructuras del propio espíritu humano presentes en su comprensión del mundo, toda vez que para el idealismo el mundo es siempre la teoría de la mente humana sobre el mundo. El pensamiento ilustrado pudo por ello confundir la filosofía de la naturaleza de los idealistas con una visión de lo material viciada de antropomorfismo, más próxima a la mística y a los bestiarios medievales que a las ciencias naturales de la Edad Moderna. El idealismo, por el contrario, encuentra en esta suerte de principio antrópico de toda teoría un factor de liberación moral y política. La toma de conciencia de que es el sujeto el que crea sistemas de sentido y que, por tanto, éstos deben reflejar en sí mismos su origen humano, implica el corolario de que con las teorías –sea cual sea el ámbito de la realidad que ellas busquen explicar– se trata en verdad de dispositivos de ordenamiento para el conocimiento y la acción construidas por la propia subjetividad humana; en esta medida, en su origen no se encuentran datos brutos de un supuesto orden natural que debe, por tanto, ser respetado sacralmente, sino la propia comunidad de sujetos vivientes. Aunque haya dejado tras de sí y olvidado el proceso de mediaciones que le dio origen, aunque se presente, pues, como replegado sobre sí mismo y, en esa medida, como la suma de re-presentaciones de un orden encontrado en el mundo, cada sistema de ideas contiene el conjunto de prácticas subjetivas inferenciales que lo constituyeron y que fueron realizadas por múltiples sujetos en plexos históricos concretos. El idealismo consiste en explicitar a la subjetividad actuando en el objeto y, con ello, en conminar el peligro de la mutación de las teorías en ideologías. El fundamento último de la libertad descansa para el idealismo menos en el orden determinado que funciona como condición de posibilidad del ejercicio de la libertad que en el modo de autoconcepción de la propia subjetividad. A partir del mundo de las autoconcepciones del sujeto –para Hegel se trata del ámbito específico del sujeto que ha devenido por ello mismo absoluto– derivan luego, como sus corolarios prácticos, las formas concretas de ordenamiento social y político. Si bien asume en sí numerosos motivos románticos, el idealismo aspira también a una mediación de esos elementos con las contribuciones teóricas de la Ilustración, con la que guarda entonces una relación menos crítica que el romanticismo. Fruto de este espíritu más ecuménico y menos orientado a la ruptura, defiende una concepción más pacífica de la racionalidad capitalista y el mundo burgués. Hegel reivindica así el rol positivo del mercado con su división social del trabajo y una concepción menos revolucionaria y más reformista de la vida política. El neoliberalismo contemporáneo se concibe a sí mismo como el sistema que resulta naturalmente del principio de la libertad negativa. Una tesis central del idealismo alemán es que para que sea posible el ejercicio de la capacidad de decidirse autónomamente por diferentes metas es necesario el marco efectivo de la libertad positiva. Sin la presencia de un orden racional con poder coercitivo sobre los miembros de la sociedad para regular su conducta, la libertad negativa de esos miembros, a primera vista disminuida y parcialmente cercenada por aquel orden, no es en la práctica posible. (shrink)

Als Schaltstelle von Kunstbeurteilung und ethisch-politischer Orientierung formt der Geschmack das Denken, Fühlen und Handeln von Menschen, so dass die Bildung des Geschmacks neben individuellem Wohlgefallen an Kunstwerken eben auch ethische und politische Entscheidungen festlegt. Das theoretische Fundament dieser – einerseits ideologisch durchaus anfälligen, andererseits für die Gründung einer Gesellschaft unumgänglichen – Geschmacksbildung erarbeitet Johann Georg Sulzer zugleich von der Warte der Ästhetik wie auch der Pädagogik. Anhand seiner Schrift "Gedanken über die beste Art die claßische Schriften der Alten mit (...) der Jugend zu lesen" (1765/31784) ist es möglich, zu verstehen, wie Sulzer nicht nur das ethisch-ästhetische Profil der Geschmacksbildung erschliesst, sondern zudem gezielt institutionell einbettet. Die Verbindung von Ästhetik und Pädagogik vollzieht sich deshalb gleichzeitig auf einer theoretischen Ebene und auf einem praktischen Feld der historisch und politisch vorgegebenen Bildungsinstitutionen. Denn eine theoretisch ausgerichtete Ästhetik lässt sich bei ihm nicht von einer praktisch verankerten Pädagogik abstrahieren. (shrink)

This paper aims to show that Lessing develops in his aesthetics a pre-Kantian philosophy of consciousness. The concept of virtuality that the german writer puts forward in his essay Laocoon implies an interweaving of temporal dimensions similar to the threefold temporal synthesis described by Kant in the transcendental deduction of the Critique of Pure Reason. But whereas Kant thematizes an a priori of consciousness, Lessing is in search of an a priori of plastic art. It will be seen that perfect (...) sculpture presupposes the choice of that moment in time which can open the imagination to the past and the future in a way that enriches the present by transforming it into a "pregnant moment". The final aim of the article is to trace the genesis of the concept of simultaneity of temporal dimensions presupposed by the idea of the pregnant moment, and its implications for the idea of the temporality of consciousness. (shrink)

Friedrich Karl Forberg is known mainly among scholars of German Idealism for his role as protagonist in the Atheismusstreit. This chapter examines the texts of that controversy, but presents Forberg as a positive contributor to the philosophy of action rather than as a mere iconoclast. I argue that Forberg's position on moral optimism is superior in some respects to the one defended by both Kant and Fichte.

Friedrich Karl Forberg is known mainly among scholars of German Idealism for his role as protagonist in the Atheismusstreit. This chapter examines the texts of that controversy, but presents Forberg as a positive contributor to the philosophy of action rather than as a mere iconoclast. I argue that Forberg's position on moral optimism is superior in some respects to the one defended by both Kant and Fichte.

This third 2021 issue of "SYMPHILOSOPHIE: International Journal of Philosophical Romanticism" contains a main dossier of new research articles guest edited by Leif Weatherby (New York University) and devoted to the topic of early German romanticism and science. In addition to the papers of this main section issue number 3 of SYMPHILOSOPHIE includes translations of primary sources and book reviews. All contents are freely available online.

Introduction to: "The Edinburgh Edition of the Complete Philosophical Works of François Hemsterhuis", vol. 2: "The Dialogues of Francois Hemsterhuis, 1778-1787", edited and translated by Jacob van Sluis, Daniel Whistler (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022), pp. 22-41.

হেগেল তাঁর “লজিক এজ মেটাফিজিক্স” নামক গ্রন্থাংশের শুরুতেই অল্প ব্যবধানে যুক্তিবিদ্যার দৃশ্যত দুটি ভিন্ন সংজ্ঞা প্রদান করেন। এ দুটি সংজ্ঞানুযায়ী, যুক্তিবিদ্যা বিশুদ্ধ ধারণার বিজ্ঞান হলেও এটিকে চিন্তার বিজ্ঞান হিসেবেও আখ্যায়িত করা যেতে পারে। কিন্তু প্রশ্ন হলো, হেগেল একই গ্রন্থাংশে অল্প ব্যবধানে যুক্তিবিদ্যার এ যে দুটি ভিন্ন সংজ্ঞা প্রদান করলেন, তার কারণ কী? বা এ দুটি সংজ্ঞার মধ্যে সম্পর্কই বা কী? তারা কি একে অপরকে সমর্থন করে? বা তারা কি আসলেই ভিন্ন দুটি সংজ্ঞা? নাকি একই বক্তব্যের দুটি ভিন্ন প্রকাশ? এ প্রশ্নগুলোর (...) উত্তর খোঁজাই বর্তমান প্রবন্ধের মূল উদ্দেশ্য। এক কথায়, প্রবন্ধের মূল উদ্দেশ্য হচ্ছে, হেগেল প্রদত্ত যুক্তিবিদ্যার দুটি ভিন্ন সংজ্ঞার মধ্যকার সম্পর্ক নির্ণয়। প্রবন্ধে লেখক দেখিয়েছেন যে, হেগেল প্রদত্ত যুক্তিবিদ্যার সংজ্ঞা দুটির মধ্যে পারস্পরিক যে সম্পর্ক তা কোনোভাবেই সাংঘর্ষিক বা বর্জনমূলক নয়। বরং এ সম্পর্ক রূপান্তরমূলক বা স্পষ্টীকরণমূলক বলে সংজ্ঞাদ্বয়কে একই মুদ্রার এপিঠ ওপিঠ বললেও অত্যুক্তি হবে না।. (shrink)

The investigation that I am going to pursue here is part of a larger effort on my part to understand the relationship between Kant’s so-called “philosophical anthropology” and the development of early German anthropology since it is my sense that Kant had a determinate, if indirect, effect on the history of that separate field. For now this larger project has three main foci: an account of Kant’s philosophical anthropology in all its parts, an inquiry into Kant’s relationship to the theories (...) engaged by German anthropologists between roughly the 1750s-1790s, and finally, an effort to track the subsequent routes taken by German anthropology in the first half of the 19th-c. In this discussion I am going look at one particular trajectory in anthropological research where we can see Kant’s effect. (shrink)

Michael Wendeler’s disputation on the Turkish republic is a discussion of Ottoman history, political philosophy, and the concept of monarchy and tyranny. Half of his disputation concerns the identification of the Turks with the little horn which arises on the head of the fourth beast in the prophet’s vision described in the Book of Daniel 7:1–28. Giving copious historical references, Wendeler explains that this little horn cannot be referring to Christ as the Jews believe, nor to the Seleucid monarch Antiochos (...) Epiphanes as the Calvinists believe. Nor can it be identifed with the Antichrist as the Catholics believe. Wendeler puts forth a detailed argument that the little horn on the fourth beast in the prophecy of Daniel can only be identified with the Turkish monarch (Ottoman Sultan). In conclusion, Wendeler draws a parallel between the monstrous ‘little horn’—the tyrannical Turkish monarchy—and the tyranny of the Catholic Church, exemplified by the untrustworthy Pope and the satanic writings of the Catholic Machiavelli. (shrink)

There has been a revived interest in the relevance of Kant's philosophy for contemporary global issues. This paper investigates the extent to which Kant's philosophy can provide grounds for addressing the global issue of climate change, despite his seemingly conservative defense of reform over revolution. First, I argue that Kant's account of societal progress as metamorphosis is compatible with the conception of a green revolution understood as restructuring society toward sustainability. Second, I claim that Kant's evolutionary model of political change (...) offers a helpful framework for thinking about how to transition present societies to more sustainable ones. I conclude with reflections on how Kant's views have applied relevance for climate-related problems. (shrink)

Early modern Protestant scholars closely engaged with Islamic thought in more ways than is usually recognized. Among Protestants, Lutheran scholars distinguished themselves as the most invested in the study of Islam and Muslim culture. Mehmet Karabela brings the neglected voices of post-Reformation theologians, primarily German Lutherans, into focus and reveals their rigorous engagement with Islamic thought. Inspired by a global history approach to religious thought, Islamic Thought Through Protestant Eyes offers new sources to broaden the conventional interpretation of the Reformation (...) beyond a solely European Christian phenomenon. -/- Based on previously unstudied dissertations, disputations, and academic works written in Latin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Karabela analyzes three themes: Islam as theology and religion; Islamic philosophy and liberal arts; and Muslim sects (Sunni and Shi‘a). This book provides analyses and translations of the Latin texts as well as brief biographies of the authors. -/- These texts offer insight into the Protestant perception of Islamic thought for scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies as well as for general readers. Examining the influence of Islamic thought on the construction of the Protestant identity after the Reformation helps us to understand the role of Islam in the evolution of Christianity. (shrink)

When discussing well-being, subject-relative concerns are intuitively important ones. In this article, I argue that Immanuel Kant's theory of well-being can be satisfactorily subject-relative, despite his emphasis on objective moral well-being. Because the specifics of agents’ situations affect agents’ moral endowments, duties regarding moral well-being can be altered for subject-relative reasons. When it comes to thinking about the well-being of others, the important Kantian notion of respect for rational agents ensures that this will be decidedly subject-relative, too, and, what is (...) more, that this will be aimed specifically at natural well-being (happiness). (shrink)

Self-authorship is fundamental to respecting the dignity of persons, and epistemic credibility depends upon impartial review. While these claims may seem obviously true, they arguments for them are rarely given. In a supposedly "post-truth" world in which respect for individual rights is under attack, the obvious must be argued for and reiterated. To that end, I mine sources from the European Enlightenment (Bacon, Hume, Kant, and Mill) to make the case for self-authorship and impartial review.

In this chapter I evaluate whether Garve was a ‘eudaimonist’, as Kant famously alleged he was. In the first sections of the paper I clarify that eudaimonism can mean either that happiness is the final end of creation, or that human beings are always motived by the desire for happiness, and I discuss Garve’s engagement with Aristotle’s understanding of eudaimonia. I then provide an account of Garve’s understanding of happiness and discuss his theory of motivation before arguing that Garve believes (...) that happiness is both the final end of creation and ultimate end of all human action. I suggest, however, that although Garve is an egoist of sorts, he should not be classified as a hedonist. (shrink)

В развитии своего аналитико-синтетического метода Фихте восходил к диэрезису, методически отраженному со времен Платона. Если Платон несомненно указывает на историческое происхождение диэрезис, то у Фихте нет прямого указания на его концептуальную дифференциацию. Таким образом, в эссе исследуется, какие современные научные и философские проблемы привели к возобновлению и новому формированию диэрезиса. Далее показано, как Фихте развил диэрезис в особый трансцендентально-философский метод и таким образом обозначил решающий поворот в философии. Разнообразные методологические и гносеологические размышления о понимании единства и многообразия явлений природы и (...) истории составляют современный фон для разработки Фихте нового аналитико-синтетического метода: взятия за основу основной формы, которая сама по себе содержит возможность дифференцированного образования философское развитие понятия становится прослеживаемым в его генезисе. Таким образом, концепция Фихте превосходит современные таксономические подходы и их пространственно-статическую наслоенность терминов. То же самое относится и к подходам, формирующим гибридизацию с их латентной темпорализацией цепи понятий. В противоположность этому концепция Фихте образует разрыв в мышлении о цепи видов, поскольку мысль об опосредовании видов (понятий) между собой становится идеей, направляющей познание. Генетическая реконструкция идет по пути трансформации абсолютного Я и тем самым субъекта, вовлеченного в эти изменения в процессе познания как чего-то, так сказать, «разворачивающегося» в иных модусах явления вплоть до «реальности» как объективного существования. In the development of his analytical-synthetic method Fichte sought recourse to diaeresis, which reflects back methodically to Plato. While Plato indisputably provides the historical origin of diaeresis, very little is given as a direct reference for Fichte’s decision of terms. Therefore, the essay examines which contemporary scientific and philosophical problems led to the reference point for the resumption and reformation of diaeresis. It also shows how Fichte developed the diaeresis into a special transcendental philosophical method as well as tracking how it marks a turning point in philosophy. The multifaceted methodological and epistemological considerations for formulating the unity and diversity of appearances in nature and history form the contemporary background for Fichte’s development of a new type of analytical-synthetic method. By laying down a basic form which in itself contains the possibility of a differentiated formation, the philosophical development of the concept becomes traceable in its genesis. This marks the point where Fichte's conception transcends the contemporary taxonomic approaches and their spatially-static stratification of concepts. The same applies to the approaches that shape hybridization with their latent temporalization of the conceptual chain. It forms a rupture in thinking related to the linking of species, in that the idea of the mediation of the species (of concepts) among themselves becomes the idea guiding the knowledge. Genetic reconstruction follows the path of the transformation of the absolute I and thus the subject involved in these changes in the process of cognition as a kind of ›unwrapping‹ into other modes of appearance up to ›reality‹ as a representational existence. (shrink)

Der Konstruktionsbegriff erfuhr er unter dem Eindruck technischer Fortschritte wie soziokultureller Veränderungen vor allem im 19. Jahrhundert wesentliche Wandlungen. Mit dessen selbstverständlich erscheinender Nutzung ergibt sich die Frage nach seinem Bedeutungsfeld: Ist Konstruieren ein Prozess, der sich auf das Entwerfen, die Präsentation der äußerlichen Gestalt des zu erzeugenden Gegenstandes konzentriert oder sind in ihm wesentlich mehr Aspekte impliziert? Im 17./18. Jahrhundert war Konstruktion verbunden mit dem Maschinenbegriff und vom Anspruch getragen, das geschlossene Ganze der Maschine als Objekt zu erfassen. Im (...) Unterschied dazu wurde namentlich in der klassischen deutschen Philosophie der Konstruktionsgedanke in ganz anderer Weise ausgebildet. Insbesondere Fichte vollzog einen Paradigmawechsel, indem er die Konstruktion zur universellen Fähigkeit der Begriffsbildung erhob. Wissen galt ihm als ideale "Nachkonstruktion" des Seins unter der Form des Wissens. Es verbindet sich damit der Wechsel vom ordnenden zu einem entwerfenden Weltverhältnis. Das Wissen erscheint nun als ein Werdendes. Im Herausarbeiten der theoretischen-begrifflichen Fassung des Wesens eines Gegenstandes manifestiert sich der entwerfende, tätige Charakter des Subjektes. Der Artikel verfolgt zum einen Aspekte der philosophischen und zum anderen der technischen Entwicklung. The concept of construction underwent significant changes under the influence of technical advances and socio-cultural changes, especially in the 19th century. With its seemingly obvious use, the question of its field of meaning arises: Is construction a process that focuses on design, the presentation of the external shape of the object to be produced, or are significantly more aspects implied in it? In the 17th/18th In the 19th century, construction was associated with the concept of machine and supported by the claim to grasp the closed whole of the machine as an object. In contrast to this, the idea of ​​construction was developed in a completely different way, especially in classical German philosophy. Fichte in particular carried out a paradigm shift by elevating construction to the universal ability of concept formation. Knowledge was for him the ideal "reconstruction" of being under the form of knowledge. This is linked to the change from an ordering to a designing world relationship. Knowledge now appears as something in the making. The drafting, active character of the subject manifests itself in the working out of the theoretical-conceptual version of the essence of an object. The article follows aspects of philosophical and technical development on the one hand. (shrink)

В статье автор исследует, как Фихте разработал социально-политическую концепцию действия, основанную как на опыте, так и на современных идеях, в его работе «Закрытое коммерческое состояниеt». Кроме того, рассматривается, чем его социально-экономические теоремы отличаются от камеристских и феодально-консервативных рассуждений. Применительно к сегодняшнему дню идея о том, что люди являются не объектом или средством социальных отношений, а скорее их субъектом и целью, представляется особенно актуальной. С этой целью Фихте разработал концепцию справедливости, которая была конститутивной для его концепции общества: демократия, направленная на посягательство (...) на использование разума, и социальная справедливость являются взаимообусловленными моментами. (shrink)

The essay deals with the question whether Fichte’s socio-economic model which based both on the experiences and ideas of his time. Additionally, it explores how his socio-economic theorems stood out against cameralistic and feudal-conservative discussions and to what extent they can be described as an early critique of capitalism. Is the essence of Fichte’s socio-economic ideas to be seen in his model of state regulation or rather in his methodological claim of genetically developing the phenomena by showing their mediating links? (...) What is however still relevant today is Fichte’s idea that human beings are not the objects or means of social relations but their subjects and aims. For this purpose, Fichte developed a concept of justice that is constitutive for his notion of society. Democracy aiming at an active use of reason and social justice are the two moments which depend on each other. (shrink)

Der Aufsatz analysiert Fichtes Verhältnis zu dem durch die Französische Revolution eingeleiteten Epochenumbruch und der damit verbundenen philosophischen Positionsbildung The essay analyzes Fichte's relationship to the epochal upheaval initiated by the French Revolution and the associated formation of philosophical positions. El ensayo analiza la relación de Fichte con el cambio de época iniciado por la Revolución Francesa y la formación asociada de posiciones filosóficas. В эссе анализируется отношение Фихте к эпохальным потрясениям, инициированным Французской революцией, и связанное с этим формирование философских (...) позиций. (shrink)

Der Artikel verfolgt, in welcher Weise Johann Gottlieb Fichte mit seiner Wissenschaftslehre die Diskussion um das Wesen der Natur in ihrem Verhältnis zum Subjekt beeinflusst. Dabei wird besonders sein Ansatz zur Fassung der Subjektivität und der Dialektisierung der Erkenntnisbeziehung zwischen Subjekt und Objekt herausgearbeitet. Dabei wird Fichtes Beitrag zur Entwicklung einer modernen dialektischen Methode gewürdigt. -/- The article follows the way in which Johann Gottlieb Fichte influences the discussion about the essence of nature in its relationship to the subject with (...) his science theory. His approach to the definition of subjectivity and the dialectization of the cognitive relationship between subject and object will be worked out in particular. Fichte's contribution to the development of a modern dialectical method is acknowledged. -/- В статье показано, как Иоганн Готлиб Фихте влияет на дискуссию о сущности природы в ее отношении к предмету своей научной теорией. В частности, вырабатывается его подход к определению субъективности и диалектизации познавательных отношений между субъектом и объектом. Признан вклад Фихте в развитие современного диалектического метода. -/- El artículo sigue la forma en que Johann Gottlieb Fichte incide en la discusión sobre la esencia de la naturaleza en su relación con el sujeto con su teoría de la ciencia. En particular, se trabaja su aproximación a la definición de subjetividad y la dialéctica de la relación cognitiva entre sujeto y objeto. Se reconoce la contribución de Fichte al desarrollo de un método dialéctico moderno. (shrink)

This review focuses on the Ogdoas scholastica by Jacob Lorhard, published in 1606. The importance of this document turns on the fact that it contains what is almost certainly the first published occurrence of the term “ontology.” The body of the work consists in a series of diagrams called “diagraphs.” Relevant features of this compendium of diagraphs are: 1. that it does not in fact contain the word “ontology,” and 2. that Lorhard himself was not responsible for its content.

The early modern period (roughly, 1600–1800 ce) in Europe brought tremendous changes in intellectual, political, and cultural life. It was a period in which philosophical debates were inevitably bound up with questions about the nature and sources of religious truth. A chronological examination of some of the period’s major thinkers highlights two issues that were central to the development of philosophy of religion in the period. The first concerns the relations between God, the soul, and the body; the other concerns (...) the relationship between human reason and divine revelation. (shrink)

In the years 1675-84, Leibniz sought to disprove Descartes’s account of clear and distinct perception by implementing a three-step argumentative strategy. The first part of the paper reconstructs the argument and highlights what aspects of Descartes’s epistemology it addresses. The reconstruction shows that the argument is based on conceivability errors. These are a kind of symbolic cognition that prove Descartes’s clear and distinct perception as introspectively indistinguishable from Leibniz’s symbolic cognition. The second part of the paper explores the epistemic implication (...) of the indistinguishability between clear and distinct perception and symbolic cognition: the mind constitutively depends on products of the imagination. My conclusion addresses the role of the imagination in symbolization. Symbolization does not exceed imagination; it rather is an idealized use of cognitive surrogates, like characters, to submit to the imagination what is not subject to it. (shrink)

Die Arbeit behandelt Fichtes frühe Wissenschaftslehre in einer kombinierten historischen und systematischen Perspektive. Zum einen wird Fichtes Vorhaben der Wissenschaftslehre in den historischen Kontext der kantischen und nachkantischen Philosophie gestellt. Dabei spielt neben dem Werk Kants, insbesondere der Kritik der reinen Vernunft, dessen (meta-)kritische Rezeption durch K. L. Reinhold und S. Maimon eine wichtige Rolle. Zum anderen behandelt die Arbeit Fichtes frühe Wissenschaftslehre als Beitrag zu einer nicht-empirischen, „transzendentalen“ Theorie gültigen Gegenstandsbezugs. Dabei kommen grundsätzliche Überlegungen zum methodischen und doktrinalen Charakter (...) der Wissenschaftslehre als Urteilstheorie ins Spiel. In der Durchführung ihres historisch fundierten und systematisch orientierten Projekts zur urteilstheoretischen Objektkonzeption beim frühen Fichte verfährt die Arbeit im Wesentlichen interpretatorisch und rekonstruktiv. Nachdem zunächst die historischen Bezüge im einleitenden Kapitel dargelegt wurden widmen sich die drei mittleren Kapitel der Arbeit den drei Teilen von Fichtes Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre, bevor dann im abschließenden Kapitel die bisher erzielten Resultate in den aktuelleren analytischen Horizont gestellt werden. Damit leistet die Arbeit einen konstruktiven und eigenständigen Beitrag zum wünschenswerten, ja fälligen und auch bereits vielfach unternommenen rapprochement zwischen der klassischen deutschen Philosophie und der inzwischen selbst historisch gewordenen analytischen Philosophie des 20. Jahrhunderts. (shrink)

The relation between transcendental idealism and philosophical naturalism awaits more careful determination, i. e. whether the issue of their compatibility hinges on their ontological view on the relation between physical and mental phenomena (i. e. whether it is supervenience or emergence) or on their epistemological view on our access to mental content. The aim of this paper is to identify a tension between transcendental idealism and philosophical naturalism, which lies not in their ontological view on the nature of substances, but (...) in their epistemological view on the relation between self-awareness and the first-personal access to mental content. I will first trace the (mis)understanding of transcendental idealism as Berkeleyan idealism to a misinterpretation of the self-knowledge premise in transcendental arguments. I will argue that transcendental idealism is not so much concerned with grounding reality of the external world as with establishing the agential nature of the first-personal perspective of experience, and it has an important implication on the meaning and function of self-awareness in transcendental idealism. (shrink)

In his book Philosophy of Right Hegel has criticized Kant´s moral philosophy negatively, labeling it as an “empty formalism”. As a matter of fact, Kantian concepts such as good will, categorical imperative and duty are rejected by Hegel because he considers them formal, empty and unilateral. In spite of this, by means of a scrutiny of Hegel’s argument it can be thought that such a criticism is only based upon Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moral. Therefore, Hegel has a (...) partial interpretation of Kant’s moral philosophy. To show this, I will first present the three concepts at issue, then I will expose Hegel’s critic to these concepts, and finally I will show some other elements in Kantian moral philosophy that allow us to reconsider Hegel’s critic. This is done in order to show that Kant’s moral philosophy is neither empty nor unilateral, despite being formal, like Hegel’s thought. (shrink)

Containing all of the key writings leading up to the publication of his Philosophical Essays in 1777, this volume presents complete works by Johann Nicolaus Tetens (1736-1807) in English for the very first time. These important essays focus on method in metaphysics and mathematics, the analysis of language, and various anthropological questions that occupied thinkers of the period. Key features of the volume include: · Accurate, readable translations · Detailed scholarly notes · A substantial introduction situating Tetens's works in historical (...) context · A German-English glossary This collection marks a significant contribution to scholarship on Kant and 18th-century German philosophy. (shrink)

Many of Marco Aurelio Severino’s works were published in Germany, thanks to the intercession of his pupils. The prestigious Nürnberg physician Johann Georg Volkamer was Severino’s closest pupil. A relevant manuscript letter of Severino to Volkamer sheds new light on the context of the edition of Severino’s Zootomia democritaea. The correspondence between Severino and Volkamer was firstly studied by Luigi Amabile in the Ninteenth-century, and it was fully exploited by Maurizio Torrini about a century later.

In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant states that ideas give us the rule for organizing experience and ideals serve as archetypes or standards against which one can measure copies. Further, he states that ideas and ideals can be practical. Understanding how precisely these concepts should function presents a challenging and understudied philosophical puzzle. I offer a reconstruction of how ideas and ideals might be practical in order to uphold, to my mind, a conceptually worthy distinction. A practical idea, I (...) argue, is best understood as a reference to the categorical imperative (and its various formulations), which guides conduct directly as a rule. A practical ideal, by contrast, I think is a substrate that serves two functions: one that (a) helps us gauge moral deficiencies and another that (b) reveals the potential for moral improvement. In response to well-grounded sceptical concerns, I argue that ideals are indirectly practical in that they ground the possibility to recognise moral states of affairs and be moral in the first place. (shrink)

Greek translation of Immanuel Kant's 1766 short treatise: Träume eines Geistersehers, erläutert durch Träume der Metaphysik.

The relationship between Goethe and Salomon Maimon has only been touched on once in the literature, and further clarification of the link between them remains a desideratum. Below I propose that the way to grasp their seeing eye to eye is through Spinoza, and specifically Spinoza's notion of scientia intuitiva. Initially I provide some context in order to illustrate what makes Maimon's role here rather unique. Then I sketch the relationship Maimon and Goethe had both to Spinoza and each other (...) while emphasizing what is at stake. I conclude with various new findings. (shrink)