Salomon Maimon: Rational Dogmatist, Empirical Skeptic: Critical Assessments

Description

Salomon Maimon (1753-1800), one of the most fascinating characters of eighteenth-century intellectual history, came from a traditional orthodox Jewish community in Eastern Europe to Berlin to seek Enlightenment. Maimon remained an outsider: an 'Ostjude' among the enlightened Jews in Berlin, a freethinker among observant Jews and a Jew among the non-Jews. His autobiography became a classic of autobiographical literature of the Enlightenment. His 'inter-cultural' experience is reflected in his philosophy. Indebted to the Maimonidean as well as to the modern European (notably Kantian) philosophical tradition, he attempted a synthesis of normally exclusive orientations: 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'. Maimon's importance in the development from Kant to German Idealism has been acknowledged, but the interpretation of his own philosophical position suffered much from this narrow perspective. The essays of leading scholars collected in this volume focus on his synthesis of 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'. Front Matter....Pages i-vii A Philosopher between Two Cultures....Pages 1-17 The Logic of Speculative Philosophy and Skepticism in Maimon’s Philosophy: Satz der Bestimmbarkeit and the Role of Synthesis....Pages 18-53 From Kant to Leibniz? Salomon Maimon and the Question of Predication....Pages 54-79 Salomon Maimon’s Philosophy and its Place in the Enlightenment....Pages 80-88 Intuition and Diversity: Kant and Maimon on Space and Time....Pages 89-124 Causa Materialis : Solomon Maimon, Moses Ben Maimon and the Possibility of Philosophical Transmission....Pages 125-143 Maimon’s Subversion of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason : There are no Synthetic a priori Judgments in Physics....Pages 144-175 Maimon’s “Quid Facti” Argument....Pages 176-199 What Should Kantians Learn from Maimon’s Skepticism?....Pages 200-232 Maimon and Fichte....Pages 233-248 Salomon Maimon als Rezensent, nebst einer bisher unbeachteten Rezension....Pages 249-262 Back Matter....Pages 263-304