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Although they were not written by Kant himself, the transcripts of his lectures constitute an important source for philosophical research today. Some of the contributions presented in this volume discuss the authenticity and significance of these transcripts, for example the status of Kant's lectures on logic and anthropology, while others shed light on the historical formation of specific writings, for instance the texts on the philosophy of religion. The contributions provide new insights into Kant's philosophy, that, if looking at Kant's published writings alone, we would not be able to gain. In a number of cases, a critical analysis of Kant's lectures gives us a better understanding of his published works. Thus his lectures on metaphysics shed new light on his Critique of Pure Reason, while the lecture on natural law is a valuable source for the understanding of his published legal writings.
Kant’s Transcendental Semantics is a translation of the most influential monograph on Kant published in Brazil, one that launched the “Semantic School” in a country with a thriving tradition of Kant scholarship. Zeljko Loparic differs from most interpreters of the Critique of Pure Reason in claiming that Kant’s main aim is neither metaphysical nor epistemological nor methodological but semantic in asking for the conditions for meaning and reference of terms in order to justify the possibility of meaningful discourse of different types. Loparic asks how our claims can have any meaning at all, how they relate to actual and possible objects, how our terms can ground scientific problem-s...
First published in 1752, Excerpt from the Doctrine of Reason [Auszug aus der Vernunftlehre] was written as a textbook and widely adopted by many 18th-century German instructors, but most notably by Immanuel Kant. For forty years Kant used the Excerpts as the basis of his lectures on logic making extensive notes on his copy of the text. More than a text on formal logic, Excerpt from the Doctrine of Reason covers epistemology and the elements of thought and language Meier believed made human understanding possible. Working across the two dominant intellectual forces in modern philosophy, the rationalist and the empiricist traditions, Meier's work was also instrumental to the introduction of En...
This is the first book-length study in English of Kant's legal metaphors, whose philosophical importance has so far been overlooked. It will appeal to academic researchers and advanced students of Kant, early modern philosophy, legal philosophy, and intellectual history.
An original study of spontaneity in Kant, a central yet neglected concept that is relevant to all aspects of his philosophy.
Designed as a textbook for use in courses on natural theology and used by Immanuel Kant as the basis for his Lectures on The Philosophical Doctrine of Religion, Johan August Eberhard's Preparation for Natural Theology (1781) is now available in English for the first time. With a strong focus on the various intellectual debates and historically significant texts in late renaissance and early modern theology, Preparation for Natural Theology influenced the way Kant thought about practical cognition as well as moral and religious concepts. Access to Eberhard's complete text makes it possible to distinguish where in the lectures Kant is making changes to what Eberhard has written and where he is...
A thorough study of why Kant developed the concept of autonomy, one of his central legacies for contemporary moral thought.
Wide-ranging and astutely argued, Talmud and Philosophy examines the intersections, partitions, and mutual illuminations and problematizations of Western philosophy and the Talmud. Among many philosophers, the Talmud has been at best an idealized and remote object and, at worst, if noticed at all, an object of curiosity. The contributors to this volume collectively ignite and probe a new mode of inquiry by approaching the very question of partitions, conjunctions, and disjunctions between the Talmud and philosophy as the guiding question of their inquiry. Rather than using the Talmud and its modes of argumentation to develop existing philosophical themes, these essays probe the question of how the Talmud as an intellectual discipline sheds new light on the unfolding of philosophy in the history of thought.
Alexander Baumgarten's Ethica Philosophica (1740) served as a chief textbook of philosophical instruction in German universities for several decades, and was used by Immanuel Kant for his lectures on moral philosophy between 1759 and 1794. Now translated into English for the first time, John Hymers explores the extent of Baumgarten's influence on the development of German philosophy. Accompanied by an introduction to Baumgarten and his work, this translation features an explanation of the main themes of the Ethica Philosophica, touching upon its relation to Christian Wolff and G.F. Meier's practical philosophy, but focusing especially on its role in Kant's lectures. First-time translations of elucidatory passages from the writings of Meier, Wolff, and Heinrich Köhler appear together with the relevant transcriptions of Kant's lectures on ethics. Based on a thorough knowledge of the original text, Hymers' clear translation and supporting material makes it possible to distinguish Kant's own remarks and insights from his attempts to expound and summarize Baumgarten's ideas. This is a much-needed contribution for anyone working in the history of modern philosophy.
This book presents the first English translation of Alexander Baumgarten's Initia Philosophiae Practicae Primae, the textbook Kant used in his lectures on moral philosophy. Originally published in Latin in 1760, the Initia contains a systematic, but original version of the universal practical philosophy first articulated by Christian Wolff. In his personal copy, Kant penned hundreds of pages of notes and sketches that document his relation to this earlier tradition. Translating these extensive elucidations into English, together with Kant's notes on the text, this translation offers a complete resource to Kant's reading of the Initia. To facilitate further study, first-time translations of e...