Abstract

Studies of Reinhold have not paid sufficient attention to the systematic connection of the early Elementarphilosophie with the history of philosophy. Reinhold understands his own system as the last historical step of a purposive philosophizing activity of reason that ends the history of philosophy and enables the accomplishment of the true Copernican revolution. Reinhold discusses different aspects of this self-understanding in the writings of 1789–1791. Reinhold develops the core of this approach in a neglected and not republished essay from 1791: “Ueber den Begrif der Geschichte der Philosophie: Eine akademische Vorlesung.” The complete picture of Reinhold’s approach emerges only after the respective arguments of the Versuchschrift, Beiträge vol. 1, Ueber das Fundament, and “Ueber den Begrif ” are methodically integrated. In addition, “Ueber den Begrif ” fulfils another unnoticed function; it reveals the role that Reinhold’s theory of representation plays in the systematic construction of the rational history of philosophy.