The Historical Genesis of the Kantian Concept of »Transcendental« Author(s): Marco Sgarbi Source: Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, Vol. 53 (2011), pp. 97-117 Published by: Felix Meiner Verlag GmbH Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/24361883 Accessed: 28-06-2016 13:41 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Felix Meiner Verlag GmbH is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte This content downloaded from 194.94.133.193 on Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:41:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Marco Sgarbi The Historical Genesis of the Kantian Concept of »Transcendental«* I. Introduction The concept of »transcendental« is undoubtedly one of the most important terms in Kantian philosophy. For over one hundred and fifty years major Kan tian scholars have debated its origin and set out various interpretations.1 The Kant-Forschung has recently established four different possible sources: 1) Schulmetaphysik·,2 2) Ch. Wolff;3 3) A. G. Baumgarten;4 4) J. H. Lambert.5 The * AU quotes are from Immanuel Kant, Kant's gesammelte Schriften (=KGS) (Berlin 1900ff.) cited by volumes and pages. I read a preliminary version of the paper at the Annual Confer ence of the British Society for the History of Philosophy entitled Transcendental Philosophy: Its Nature and its History (Manchester Metropolitan University, 15-18 April 2009). My most heartfelt thanks to Gary Banham, Constance Blackwell, James Clarke, Dietmar H. Heidemann, Seung-Kee Lee, and Rudolf A. Makkreel, for their comments to my paper. I dedicate this article to Norbert Hinske, a master in the studies of the history of concepts in the Kantian philosophy, for his eightieth birthday. 1 See Ferdinand Schmidt: De origine termini kantiani transcendens (Marburg 1873); Abra ham Gideon: Der Begriff Transzendental in Kants Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Marburg 1903); Hans Leisegang: Ober die Behandlung des scholastischen Satzes: »Quodlibet ens est unum, verum, bonum seu perfectum«, und seine Bedeutung in Kants Kritik der reinen Vernunft. In: Kant-Studien 20 (1915) 403-421; Hinrich Knittermeyer: Der Terminus transzendental in seiner historischen Entwickelung bis zu Kant (Marburg 1920); id.: Transzendent und Transzenden tal. In: Paul Natorp zum 70. Geburtstage von Schiilern und Freunden gewidmet, hg. von Ernst Cassirer (Berlin, Leipzig 1924) 195-214; id.: Transzendentalphilosophie und Theologie. Eine kritische Erinnerung zum 22. April 1924. In: Die christliche Welt 38 (1924) 220-226; Gottfried Martin: Immanuel Kant. Ontologie und Wissenschaftstheorie (Kôln 1958); Hans Vaihinger: Kommentar zu Kants Kritik der reinen Vernunft (Stuttgart 1992). For an exhaustive status quaes tionis see Norbert Hinske: Kants Weg zur Transzendentalphilosophie. Der dreiOigjahrige Kant (Stuttgart etc. 1970) 15-23. 2 See Francesco Valerio Tommasi: Kant di fronte alia tradizione del »trascendentale«: stato della ricerca e prospettive alia luce di un nuovo particolare. In: Studi Kantiani 16 (2003) 53-66; id.: Philosophia transcendentalis. La questione antepredicativa e l'analogia tra la Scolastica e Kant (Firenze 2008). 3 See N. Hinske: Die historischen Vorlagen der kantischen Transzendentalphilosophie. In: Archiv fur Begriffsgeschichte 12 (1968) 86-113; id.: Kants Weg, a.a.O. [Anm. 1] 49; ders.: Ver schiedenheit und Einheit der transzendentalen Philosophien. Zum Exempel fiir ein Verhàltnis von Problem- und Begriffsgeschichte. In: Archiv fiir Begriffsgeschichte 14 (1970) 41-68. 4 See Ignacio Angelelli: On the Origins of Kant's »Transcendental«. In: Kant-Studien 63 (1972) 117-122; id.: On »Transcendental« Again. In: Kant-Studien 66 (1975) 116-120. 5 Giorgio Tonelli: Das Wiederaufieben der deutsch-aristotelischen Terminologie bei Kant wahrend der Entstehung der Kritik der reinen Vernunft. In: Archiv fiir Begriffsgeschichte 9 (1964) 233-242, quoted 238. Archiv fïïr Begriffsgeschichte · Band 53 · © Felix Meiner Verlag 2011 · ISSN 0003-8946 This content downloaded from 194.94.133.193 on Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:41:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 98 Marco Sgarbi aim of this essay is to suggest a différent origin and genesis of the Kantian con cept of »transcendental« through the méthodologies of Quellengeschichte and Begriffsgeschichte, investigating the philosophical and historical background of Königsberg from the beginning of the seventeenth Century to Kant and to show reasons for the shift of the concept of »transcendental« from metaphysics to logic. II. Transcendental Philosophy in Königsberg (1600-1724) The history of transcendental philosophy in Königsberg closely parallels the teaching of metaphysics in the German universities. There was a tendency in Germany between 1530 and 1590 to subordinate or to remove the discipline of metaphysics in the curricula of the most important Protestant universities.^ This tendency was characterized by: 1) a condition of diffuse uncertainty by the con tinuous doctrinal and theological mutations of the various reformist movements; 2) the identification of metaphysics with theology, with the conséquent teaching in the theological faculties;3) the dissémination of Philipp Melanchthon's works. Melanchthon, to whom Martin Luther gave the task of reforming the university curriculum in Protestant Germany, like many humanists did not pay attention to metaphysics. Melanchthon »completely neglected the systematic role played by metaphysics arguing that: (a) logic (dialectic) can replace metaphysics with regard to assessing principles; (b) metaphysics is useless with regard to the con cept of God and it is also pernicious and (c) the main advantage of metaphysics is to be seen in grammar.«7 »Melanchthon's exhortation ad res ipsas«, however, »implies a comprehensive metaphysical project aimed at retranslating the Aris totelian realist metaphysics in a System of ideal relations held together by men tal procédures.«8 In this process of mentalization and nominalization of metaphysics the doc trine of transcendentals became important for German philosophy after the publication of Francisco Suärez's Disputationes metaphysicae in 1600.9 »L'effet Suarez« extremely influenced the Königsberg cultural background with the dis sémination of Protestant metaphysical works of Suärezian origin such as those 6 See Joseph S. Freedman: Philosophy Instruction within the Institutional Framework of Central European Schools and Universities during the Reformation Era. In: History of Uni versities 5 (1985) 117-166; id.: Aristotle and the Content of Philosophy Instruction at Central European Schools and Universities during the Reformation Era (1500-1650). In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 137 (1993) 213-253. 7 Riccardo Pozzo: Logic and Metaphysics in German Philosophy from Melanchthon to He gel. In: Approaches to Metaphysics, ed. by William Sweet (Dordrecht 2005) 62. 8 R. Pozzo, ibid. 62. See Walter Spam: Wiederkehr der Metaphysik (Stuttgart, 1976) 109. 9 The first édition was published in Salamanca in 1597. See Ludger Honnefelder: Metaphys ics as a Discipline: From the »Transcendental Philosophy of the Ancients« to Kant's Notion of Transcendental Philosophy. In: The Médiéval Héritage in Early Modern Metaphysics and Mo dal Theory 1400-1700, ed. by R. Friedman and L. Nielsen (Dordrecht 2003) 53-74. This content downloaded from 194.94.133.193 on Tue, 28 Jun 2016 13:41:21 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Historical Genesis of the Kantian Concept of »Transcendental« 99 of Henning Arnisaeus, Jakob Martini, Christoph Scheibler, and Clemens Tim pler and with a général réévaluation of Jesuitic metaphysics. Georg Crusius was the first to deal with Suârez's metaphysics in his Disputationes metaphysicae in 1618.1° The most important and influential metaphysical work on the doctrine of transcendentals, however, was A. Calov's Metaphysica divina, which was pub lished in Rostock in 1636. It made Königsberg one of the strongholds of Lu theran metaphysics for its wide dissémination.!! Calov elaborated a new définition of the object of metaphysics, and in par ticular of ontology, which was the »ens qua ens«.i2 Calov's notion of »ens«, however, had special features, and differed from the other precedent and con temporary philosophical elaborations. It was »ens positivum, reale, actuale, incomplexum«,!3 and its investigation concerned also the transcendental affec tions.!4 The »ens«, Calov spécifiés, is that which does not imply any contradic tion.!5 What is contradictory is »non-ens« and it is in the realm of thought and intelligibility. On the contrary, the »ens« is the first object of knowledge, i.e. the »primum cognitum«.!6 The »ens« as »primum cognitum«, in fact, is not a mere abstract »ens« according to Calov, but it always needs a representational ground, i.e. a »realitas objectiva«, of an »objectum« in front of the »subjectum«. The »ens« is therefore a »cognoscibile« according to the classification of his gnosto logical doctrines!7 and not a mere intelligible, as for instance it was for Clemens Timpler.i8The transcendental affections therefore must be referred to the »ens« not