DOCSLIB.ORG

Metaphysics in Königsberg Prior to Kant (1703-1770)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Metaphysics in Königsberg Prior to Kant (1703-1770) METAPHYSICS IN KÖNIGSBERG PRIOR TO KANT (1703-1770) Marco SGARBI* ABSTRACT: The present contribute aims to reconstruct, using the methodology of intellectual history, the broad spectrum of metaphysical doctrines that Kant could know during the years of the formation of his philosophy. The first part deals with the teaching of metaphysics in Königsberg from 1703 to 1770. The second part examines the main characteristics of the metaphysics in the various handbooks, which were taught at the Albertina, in order to have an exhaustive overview of all metaphysical positions. KEYWORDS: Metaphysics. Eclecticism. Wolffianism. Aristotelianism. Kant. Königsberg. Quellengeschichte. 1 Introduction The Kant-Forschung has never paid a lot of attention to the reconstruction of the Kantian philosophy beginning from the cultural background of Königsberg’s university. Working on Königsberg’s framework * Marco Sgarbi studies Kantian philosophy, German Enlightenment, and the history of Aristotelian tradition. He has published the following books: La Kritik der reinen Vernunft nel contesto della tradizione logica aristotelica (Olms, 2010) Logica e metafisica nel Kant precritico. L’ambiente intellettuale di Königsberg e la formazione della filosofia kantiana (Peter Lang, 2010); La logica dell’irrazionale. Studio sul significato e sui problemi della Kritik der Urteilskraft (Mimesis, 2010). He has published more than ten volumes and he has published in «Rivista di Storia della Filosofia», «Rivista di Filosofia Neo-scolastica», «Medioevo», «Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte», and «Fenomenologia e Società». Trans/Form/Ação, Marília, v.33, n.1, p.31-64, 2010 31 does not mean to deal with Kant’s biography, but to understand if and how the cultural context, in which he grew up, had influenced his philosophical perspectives particularly in the metaphysical field. In fact, according to Giorgio Tonelli, who wrote the only meaningful investigation in this sense (TONELLI, 1975), the Albertina was a battlefield between philosophical and religious positions that determined decisevly Kant’s development. Tonelli, unfortunately, had no the Vorlesungsverzeichnisse available, which have been rediscovered by Riccardo Pozzo two decades ago and which shed light upon the conditions in Königsberg and the making of Kant’s philosophy in three crucial moments: 1) from 1703 to 1740, before Kant’s matriculation; 2) from 1740 to 1746, when Kant was a university student; 3) from 1746 to 1770, when he was lecturer at the Albertina. The present contribute aims to reconstruct the broad spectrum of metaphysical doctrines that Kant could know during the years of the formation of his philosophy. The first part, following the methodology of the new edition of the Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie and of the Quellengeschichte,1 deals with the teaching of metaphysics in Königsberg from 1703 to 1770, using the unpublished materials of the Ratio praelectionum (1703-1719).2 The second part examines the definition, the subject, and the divison of metaphysics in the various handbooks, which were taught at the Albertina, in order to have an exhaustive overview of all metaphysical positions. 2 The teaching of metaphysics in Königsberg A fruitful approach to study metaphysics in Königsberg between 1703 to 1770 is to reconstruct the history of the chair of “logic and metaphysics”. The chair was founded in 1552 and it was simply of “dialectics”, as it was usual in that epoch when metaphysics was incorporated into logic and the metaphysical problems were investigated in theology (POZZO, 2004). During the 17th century the chair became of “logic” and then of “logic and metaphysics”. From its foundation the chair was occupied by Nikolaus Jagenteufel (1552-1567), Martin Lauben (1569-1578), Michael Scrinius (1579- 1 The Quellengeschichte focuses its attention on six issues to reconstruct Kantian philosophy: 1) the statement of Kant; 2) the references in the Briefwechsel and in the Nachlass; 3) the references in other authors; 4) university professors; 5) the textbooks at the Albertina; 6) the intellectual background of Königsberg (HINSKE, 2006). This paper deals particularly with the last three issues. 2 I am preparing a critical edition of Königsberg’s Ratio praelectionum (1703-1719). 32 Trans/Form/Ação, Marília, v.33, n.1, p.31-64, 2010 1585), Lorenz Pantän (1585-1589), Martin Winter (1589-1595), Johann Geldern (1595-1620), Georg Crusius (1621-1625), Levin Pouchen (1626), Lorenz Weger (1626-1629), Micheal Eifler (1630-1657), Melchior Zeidler (1658-1663), Lambert Steger (1663-1667), and Andreas Hedio (1667-1703) (PISANSKI, 1886, p. 149, 291). Many of these professors were extremely important for the history of Königsberg’s university and for the development of the Schulphilosophie in Germany. For example Crusius was the first to introduce the Suárez’s metaphysics at the Albertina, Calov invented the new sciences of gnostologia, noologia, and methodologia, contributing also to the development of the ontology, Zeidler imported Jacopo Zabarella’s methodological works and Hedio wrote the most exhaustive and exstensive commentary to Aristotle’s Organon of the 17th century. These few examples show how much the chair was charaterized by Aristotelianism and Scholastic philosophy. This is the framework within it is necessary to contextualize the first professor of logic and metaphysics of the 18th century: Paul Rabe (SGARBI, 2009a). Rabe was professor of logic and metaphysics from 1703 until his death in 1713. His main contribute in the field of metaphysics is Cursus philosophicus, seu Compendium praecipuarum scientiarum philosophicarum, Dialecticae nempe, Analyticae, Politicae, sub qua comprehenditur Ethica, Physicae atque Metaphysicae. After Rabe, Johann Böse was professor of logic and metaphysics from 1713 to 1719, but he never wrote on metaphysical topics. From 1715 to 1725 Heinrich Oelmann was associate professor of logic and metaphysics. He is important because was the first to lecture Wolffian metaphysics in Königsberg. After Rabe, the most important Aristotelian was Johann Jakob Rohde, who was professor of logic and metaphysics from 1720 to 1727. He was Aristotelian during all his life, teaching Aristotelian metaphysics, as the academic program Meditatione philosophica qua Aristotelica sapientissimus de veritate judice shows (ROHDE, 1722). Another important Aristotelian and a pupil of Rabe was Johann David Kypke, who had the chair of logic and metaphysics from 1725 to 1758, and also hosted Kant for a while in his house.3 From 1728 to 1729 the Aristotelian Johann Gottfried Teske, who was extremley close to Kant, became associate professor of logic and metaphysics. After Teske, the future theologician Daniel Lorenz Salthenius was associate professor of logic and metaphysics between 1729 and 1732. He was usual to teach and comment the Aristotelian works during his lectures. From 1732 to 1733 Johann Georg Bock, one of the most important aestheticians of his time, had the chair 3 Records are extremely ambiguous, and some believe he lodged with Kypke’s nephew, Johann Georg. Anyway the important thing is that Kant was familiar with Kypke’s house. Trans/Form/Ação, Marília, v.33, n.1, p.31-64, 2010 33 of logic and metaphysics, which was subsequently occupied in 1733 by the eclectic Konrad Gottlieb Marquardt, who was Kant’s professor of mathematics.4 From 1734 to 1751 Martin Knutzen, who was Kant’s mentor, became associate professor of logic and metaphysics. After Kypke’s death, Friedrich Johann Buck became from 1759 to 1770 had the chair until Kant replaced him. For an exhaustive investigation on Königsberg’s metaphysical background it is necessary to consider also the teachings at the Albertina in order to understand the main trends and influences of the period and the various changes during times. Before to analyze the teaching of metaphysics in each semester, it is important to recall that in Königsberg in order to be admitted to the faculty of theology it was required to complete the whole cursus philosophicus, which was composed by six different philosophical disciplines: 1) dialectics; 2) analytics; 3) ethics; 4) politics; 5) physics; 6) metaphysics (ERDMANN, 1876, p. 21). This cursus could be taught on different handbooks (POZZO, 1991, p. 75), even if the more suitable handbook for this kind of teaching was Rabe’s Cursus philosophicus (SGARBI, 2009a, p. 276-278). In fact, it was highly recommended to the students of theology, law, and medicine as its subtitle says explicitly – “in superioribus Facultatibus usui esse potest in Theologia nempe, Jurisprudentia et Medicina” – and it was divided in dialectics, analytics, ethics, politics, natural philosophy and metaphysics. The fortune of this handbook is testified by the publication in 1716 of its companion Philosophia propaedeutica sive Philosophiae Fundamenta praerequisita, ad ductum et methodum Cursus Philosophici b. Professoris Raben in tres tomos iuxta triplicem Philosophiam breviter et perspicue distributa (PISANSKI, 1886, p. 529). It is reasonable to suppose that Rabe’s Cursus was for its propaedeuticity and ufficiality the reference handbook of the cursus philosophicus. Other possible handbooks to study the cursus were Franz Albert Aepinus’s Introductio in philosophiam, Ludwig Thümmig’s Institutiones philosophiae wolfianae, Johann Georg Walch’s Introductio in Philosophiam, Johann Christoph Gottsched’s Erste Gründe der gesammten Weltweisheit, Christian Friedrich Ammon’s Lineae primae eruditionis humanae. Only occasionally the cursus philosophicus
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Agnosticism: Kant W
    Liberty University DigitalCommons@Liberty University Faculty Publications and Presentations School of Religion 1981 Agnosticism: Kant W. David Beck Liberty University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Epistemology Commons, Esthetics Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Other Religion Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Beck, W. David, "Agnosticism: Kant" (1981). Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 160. http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs/160 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Religion at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AGNOSTICISM: KANT W. David Beck W. Davzd Beck is Associate Professor of Phzlosophy and Chatrman of the Philosophy Department, Liberty Baptist College, Lynchburg, Vzrgznia. A graduate of Houghton College (B.S.), Trzmty Evangelical Divimty School (M.A.), and Boston University (Ph.D.), he also did graduate work at the Unwersity of Rhode Island. Beszdes a review article, "Is God Lost?" zn Christianity Today, he has written a chapter, "A Letter of Bugenhagen to Luther," zn Principalities and Powers, edzted by}. W. Montgomery. Dr. Beck is a member of the American Philosophical AssociatIOn and the Evangelical Philosophical Soczety. L 3 W. David Beck AGNOSTICISM: KANT CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter identifies the results of Kant's philosophical system on the THERE IS FAIR agreement among historians of thought contemporary discussion concerning an inerrant revelation.
    [Show full text]
  • Staying Optimistic: the Trials and Tribulations of Leibnizian Optimism
    Strickland, Lloyd 2019 Staying Optimistic: The Trials and Tribulations of Leibnizian Optimism. Journal of Modern Philosophy, 1(1): 3, pp. 1–21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32881/jomp.3 RESEARCH Staying Optimistic: The Trials and Tribulations of Leibnizian Optimism Lloyd Strickland Manchester Metropolitan University, GB [email protected] The oft-told story of Leibniz’s doctrine of the best world, or optimism, is that it enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the eighteenth century until the massive earthquake that struck Lisbon on 1 November 1755 destroyed its support. Despite its long history, this story is nothing more than a commentators’ fiction that has become accepted wisdom not through sheer weight of evidence but through sheer frequency of repetition. In this paper we shall examine the reception of Leibniz’s doctrine of the best world in the eighteenth century in order to get a clearer understanding of what its fate really was. As we shall see, while Leibniz’s doctrine did win a good number of adherents in the 1720s and 1730s, especially in Germany, support for it had largely dried up by the mid-1740s; moreover, while opponents of Leibniz’s doctrine were few and far between in the 1710s and 1720s, they became increasing vocal in the 1730s and afterwards, between them producing an array of objections that served to make Leibnizian optimism both philosophically and theologically toxic years before the Lisbon earthquake struck. Keywords: Leibniz; Optimism; Best world; Lisbon earthquake; Evil; Wolff The oft-told story of Leibniz’s doctrine of the best world, or optimism, is that it enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the eighteenth century until the massive earthquake that struck Lisbon on 1 November 1755 destroyed its support.
    [Show full text]
  • Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics CAMBRIDGE TEXTS in the HISTORY of PHILOSOPHY
    CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IMMANUEL KANT Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics CAMBRIDGE TEXTS IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Series editors KARL AMERIKS Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame DESMOND M. CLARKE Professor of Philosophy at University College Cork The main objective of Cambridge Textsin the History of Philosophy is to expand the range, variety and quality of texts in the history of philosophy which are available in English. The series includes texts by familiar names (such as Descartes and Kant) and also by less well-known authors. Wherever possible, texts are published in complete and unabridged form, and translations are specially commissioned for the series. Each volume contains a critical introduction together with a guide to further reading and any necessary glossaries and textual apparatus. The volumes are designed for student use at undergraduate and postgraduate level and will be of interest not only to students of philosophy, but also to a wider audience of readers in the history of science, the history of theology and the history of ideas. For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book. IMMANUEL KANT Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Come Forward as Science with Selections from the Critique of Pure Reason TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY GARY HATFIELD University of Pennsylvania Revised Edition cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521828246 © Cambridge University Press 1997, 2004 This publication is in copyright.
    [Show full text]
  • The Principle of the Causal Openness of the Physical
    Organon F 26 (1) 2019: 40–61 ISSN 2585-7150 (online) https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26104 ISSN 1335-0668 (print) RESEARCH ARTICLE The Principle of the Causal Openness of the Physical Daniel von Wachter* Received: 16 July 2018 / Accepted: 3 December 2018 Abstract: The argument from causal closure for physicalism requires the principle that a physical event can only occur through being ne- cessitated by antecedent physical events. This article proposes a view of the causal structure of the world that claims not only that an event need not be necessitated by antecedent events, but that an event cannot be necessitated by antecedent events. All events are open to counteraction. In order to spell out various kinds of counteraction I introduce the idea of ‘directedness.’ Keywords: Causal closure; determinism; free will; miracles. 1. Introduction: the principle of causal closure (1.1) The Principle of Causal Closure (PCC) expresses a substantial conviction about causality and about everything that happens. Contrary to PCC, in this article I shall defend the ‘Principle of the Causal Openness of the Physical’ (PCO). I shall proceed by addressing the following points: • Note how influential PCC has been. • Which version of PCC is required for an argument against the exist- ence of physical events that have a non-physical cause? * International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein, Fürst- Franz-Josef-Str. 19, FL-9493 Mauren, Liechtenstein [email protected] Website: http://von-wachter.de © The Author. Journal compilation © The Editorial Board, Organon F.
    [Show full text]
  • A Classic Premillenial Eschatology by Dieter Thom
    A Classic Premillenial Eschatology by Dieter Thom Version 3/5/2013 © Dieter Thom Reprint Permission [email protected] http://dieterthom.wordpress.com has the latest revision of this ongoing work. For private use only, not for commercial distribution. Not to be sold for profit. SHORT EXCERPTS OF SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. COPYRIGHT©1982 BY THOMAS NELSON, INC. USED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.thomasnelson.com EXTENDED EXCERPTS OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED BY PERMISSION. QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE NET BIBLE® COPYRIGHT © 2005 BY BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. www.bible.org ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology Contents Page 1. About the Author 3 2. An Introduction to Christian Eschatology 4 3. The Main Views of End Times Prophecy 8 4. Basic Approaches in Prophetic Hermeneutics 13 5. The Seven Letters to the Churches of the Book of Revelation 15 6. The Great Tribulation Chronology of the Book of Revelation 19 7. The Synoptic Gospel Narrative Accounts of Jesus’ Prophecies 28 8. The Gospel, Apostasy and Israel in the Plan of God 33 9. The Antichrist and His Kingdom 37 10. Integrating Daniel’s Last Two Chapters 45 11. The Temple of God 49 12. The Great Prostitute 57 13. The One World System 78 14. The Name and Mark of the Beast 88 15. The Battle of Armageddon 95 16. The Rapture of the Saints 98 17. The Millennial Kingdom of Christ 103 18. Conclusion 113 19. Recommended Further Reading 115 2 A Classic Premillennial Eschatology 1. About the Author ‘Eschatology’ is the study of ‘final things’.
    [Show full text]
  • Johann Gustav Reinbeck / Johann Friedrich Bertram Drei Schriften Zur Theologie Und 'Praestabilierten Harmonie'
    Johann Gustav Reinbeck / Johann Friedrich Bertram Drei Schriften zur Theologie und 'Praestabilierten Harmonie' CHRISTIAN WOLFF GESAMMELTE WERKE MATERIALIEN UND DOKUMENTE Begründet von Jean École · Hans Werner Arndt † Herausgegeben von Jean École · Robert Theis Werner Schneiders · Sonia Carboncini-Gavanelli Band 112 Johann Gustav Reinbeck Johann Friedrich Bertram Drei Schriften zur Theologie und ‘Praestabilierten Harmonie’ Georg Olms Verlag Hildesheim · Zürich · New York 2014 Johann Gustav Reinbeck Johann Friedrich Bertram Drei Schriften zur Theologie und ‘Praestabilierten Harmonie’ Mit einem Vorwort von Stefan Lorenz Georg Olms Verlag Hildesheim · Zürich · New York 2014 S. 1-72: Johann Gustav Reinbeck, Vorrede von dem Gebrauch der Vernunfft …. Dem Nachdruck liegt das Exemplar der Landes- und Forschungsbibliothek Gotha zugrunde. Signatur: Bd. IV,1 138 S. 73-176: Johann Gustav Reinbeck, Erörterung der Philosophischen Meynung …. Dem Nachdruck liegt das Exemplar der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock zugrunde. Signatur: Ec-1076/1-11 S. 177-260: Johann Friedrich Bertram, Beleuchtung der Neu-getünchten Meynung …. Dem Nachdruck liegt das Exemplar der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock zugrunde. Signatur: Ec-1076/1-11 Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISO 9706 Nachdruck der Ausgaben Berlin und Leipzig 1733, Berlin 1737 und Bremen 1737 Gedruckt auf säurefreiem, alterungsbeständigem Papier Herstellung: Druckerei Hubert & Co., 37079 Göttingen Printed in Germany Georg Olms Verlag AG, Hildesheim 2014 www.olms.de ISBN 978-3-487-13283-9 Inhalt Stefan Lorenz . 7* – 51* Vorwort: Problemanzeigen und Krisenphänomene. Theologie und ‚Praesta- bilierte Harmonie‘ in der Perspektive der Wolffschen Schule und ihrer Geg- ner. J.G.Reinbeck und J.F.Bertram als Beispiele.
    [Show full text]
  • Logical Normativity and Rational Agency—Reassessing Locke's
    Proof. See JHP published version for reference. Logical Normativity and Rational Agency—Reassessing Locke’s Relation to Logic HUAPING LU-ADLER* abstract A substantive body of literature has been dedicated to explaining Locke’s crucial role in the development of a new logic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commonly referred to as the “logic of ideas” or “facultative logic.” I examine Locke’s relation to logic from a different angle. I focus on two philosophical issues that permeate his remarks about logic in various texts. One is about what grounds the alleged authority of putative logical rules. The other concerns the relation between logic and the psychology of reasoning. These issues are not only historically signifi- cant but also continuous with an ongoing modern discourse in philosophy of logic. key words agency, Locke, logic, normativity, syllogism 1 . introduction There is an exegetical quandary when it comes to interpreting Locke’s relation to logic. On the one hand, over the last few decades a substantive amount of literature has been dedicated to explaining Locke’s crucial role in the development of a new logic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. John Yolton names this new logic the “logic of ideas,” while James Buickerood calls it “facultative logic.”1 Either way, Locke’s Essay is supposedly its “most outspoken specimen” or “culmination.”2 Call this reading the ‘New Logic interpretation.’ On the other hand, from the typical standpoint of a philosopher accustomed to the modern (Boolean-Fregean) conception of logic, whatever Locke—indeed, whatever most of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophers—had to 1Yolton, “Logic of Ideas”; Buickerood, “Facultative Logic.” Also: Stephen Gaukroger, Cartesian Logic; Peter Schouls, Reasoned Freedom, 22–25; Frederick Michael, “Epistemology”; Paul Schuurman, Ideas; and Hannah Dawson, Locke, 21–22.
    [Show full text]
  • Goodbye, Kant!
    1 Kant’s revolution1 Why start a revolution When he died at the age of eighty on the February 12, 1804, Kant was as forgetful as Ronald Reagan was at the end of his life.2 To overcome this, he wrote everything down on a large sheet of paper, on which metaphysical reflections are mixed in with laundry bills. He was the melancholy parody of what Kant regarded as the highest principle of his own philosophy, namely that an “I think” must accompany every representation or that there is a single world for the self that perceives it, that takes account of it, that remembers it, and that determines it through the categories. This is an idea that had done the rounds under various guises in philosophy before Kant, but he crucially transformed it. The reference to subjectivity did not conflict with objectivity, but rather made it possible inasmuch as the self is not just a disorderly bundle of sensations but a principle of order endowed with two pure forms of intuition—those of space and time—and with twelve categories—among which “substance” and “cause”—that constitute the real sources of what we call “objectivity.” The Copernican revolution to which Kant nailed his philosophical colors thus runs as follows: “Instead of asking what things are like in themselves, we should ask how they must be if they are to be known by us.”3 It is still worth asking why Kant should have undertaken so heroic and dangerous a task and why he, a docile subject of the enlightened despot the King of Prussia, to whom he had once even dedicated a poem,4 should have had to start a revolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Immanuel Kant and the Development of Modern Psychology David E
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Psychology Faculty Publications Psychology 1982 Immanuel Kant and the Development of Modern Psychology David E. Leary University of Richmond, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/psychology-faculty- publications Part of the Theory and Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Leary, David E. "Immanuel Kant and the Development of Modern Psychology." In The Problematic Science: Psychology in Nineteenth- Century Thought, edited by William Ray Woodward and Mitchell G. Ash, 17-42. New York, NY: Praeger, 1982. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Psychology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 Immanuel Kant and the Development of Modern Psychology David E. Leary Few thinkers in the history of Western civilization have had as broad and lasting an impact as Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). This "Sage of Konigsberg" spent his entire life within the confines of East Prussia, but his thoughts traveled freely across Europe and, in time, to America, where their effects are still apparent. An untold number of analyses and commentaries have established Kant as a preeminent epistemologist, philosopher of science, moral philosopher, aestheti­ cian, and metaphysician. He is even recognized as a natural historian and cosmologist: the author of the so-called Kant-Laplace hypothesis regarding the origin of the universe. He is less often credited as a "psychologist," "anthropologist," or "philosopher of mind," to Work on this essay was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No.
    [Show full text]
  • Agnosticism: Kant
    Scholars Crossing SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations 1981 Agnosticism: Kant W. David Beck Liberty University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Epistemology Commons, Esthetics Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Other Religion Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Beck, W. David, "Agnosticism: Kant" (1981). SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations. 160. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs/160 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Crossing. It has been accepted for inclusion in SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of Scholars Crossing. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AGNOSTICISM: KANT W. David Beck W. Davzd Beck is Associate Professor of Phzlosophy and Chatrman of the Philosophy Department, Liberty Baptist College, Lynchburg, Vzrgznia. A graduate of Houghton College (B.S.), Trzmty Evangelical Divimty School (M.A.), and Boston University (Ph.D.), he also did graduate work at the Unwersity of Rhode Island. Beszdes a review article, "Is God Lost?" zn Christianity Today, he has written a chapter, "A Letter of Bugenhagen to Luther," zn Principalities and Powers, edzted by}. W. Montgomery. Dr. Beck is a member of the American Philosophical AssociatIOn and the Evangelical Philosophical Soczety. L 3 W. David Beck AGNOSTICISM: KANT CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter identifies the results of Kant's philosophical system on the THERE IS FAIR agreement among historians of thought contemporary discussion concerning an inerrant revelation.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Sally Sedgwick Excerpt More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-60416-1 - Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: An Introduction Sally Sedgwick Excerpt More information CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1. KANT’s LIFE: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), a major trading port on the Baltic Sea in what was then East Prussia. He was the fourth of nine children of a master 1 harness-maker. His parents were devout observers of the Protestant 2 sect known as Pietism. Although his mother died when he was only thirteen, she had a profound impact on his life. She recognized his special gifts early on and encouraged their development. As Kant wrote in a letter, she “awakened and broadened” his ideas, and 3 “implanted and nurtured” in him the “first seed of the good.” From the age of eight to sixteen years Kant attended the Collegium Fridericianum, a Pietist school dedicated to the instruction of mathe- matics, history, geometry, and, above all, Latin. Although he enjoyed studying Latin as well as Greek at the Collegium, he described his 1 Manfred Kuehn. Kant: A Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 28. Uwe Schultz claims that Kant was the fourth of eleven children, in Immanuel Kant (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003), p. 7. 2 Pietism was a Protestant movement founded in the mid-seventeenth century to protest the highly scholastic and creed-bound form of Lutheranism at that time in Germany. Pietists emphasized good works over worldly success, and the importance of one’s personal devotional life over public displays of faith.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 This Is the Penultimate Version of the Essay. for the Final Version, Please See Brandon Look (Ed.), the Continuum Companion To
    This is the penultimate version of the essay. For the final version, please see Brandon Look (ed.), The Continuum Companion to Leibniz, London/New York: Thoemmes Continuum Press (2011), 289–309. KANT, THE LEIBNIZIANS, AND LEIBNIZ Anja Jauernig, University of Pittsburgh 1. Introduction It is clear that Leibniz’s philosophy was very important for Kant. This importance is reflected, for example, in the number of Kant’s explicit references to Leibniz. He is the most mentioned philosopher in Kant’s corpus overall.1 What is much less clear is in what ways Leibniz was important for Kant, and how exactly the relation between Leibniz’s and Kant’s philosophy should be understood. The historian of philosophy who is trying to clarify this relation is faced with various kinds of difficulties. To begin with, it is not easy to determine which of Leibniz’s own writings Kant had access to, and even less easy to say which of them he actually read. More generally, in Kant’s treatment of broadly speaking Leibnizian themes his sources and targets are often unclear. Is his discussion aimed at Leibniz himself, or at later Leibnizians (broadly conceived)? If we hope to understand Kant’s relation to Leibniz, we have no choice but also to investigate Kant’s relation to these later Leibnizians, and their relations to Leibniz. This reveals yet another difficulty. Which later Leibnizians are we to examine in this context? Some obvious candidates directly come to mind: Christian Wolff (1679–1754), the most well-known philosopher in early eighteenth-century Germany; Conrad Gottlieb Marquardt (1694–1749) and Martin Knutzen (1713–1751), Kant’s teachers in Königsberg; and Friedrich Christian Baumeister (1709–1785), Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762), Georg Friedrich Meier (1718–1777), and Johann 1 More precisely, a computer count returns 495 hits for Leibniz in all of Kant’s writings (excluding the lecture notes).
    [Show full text]