Kant and the Path of German Idealism: Competing Accounts of Cognition

Description

Kant’s critical philosophy emerged within a philosophical landscape ripe for change, and it provided an unprecedented blueprint for how to scientifically, ethically, and spiritually reconcile subjective experience within the unique realities of modernity. Nevertheless, Kant’s critical system encountered numerous challenges along its path toward influence. Drawing upon key texts from the Golden Age of philosophical scholarship from Kant to Hegel, Kant and the Path of German Idealism illuminates the trajectory of Kant’s critical foundation as it was initially received, developed, and ostensibly usurped. What emerges from Daniel Patrick Kelly’s reading of this philosophical period is the fundamental centrality of Kant’s discursive account of cognition. Kelly contends that the early and steady erosion of the Kantian discursive foundation—which is theoretically central to the strength, integrity, and applicability of the Kantian system—was largely due to persistent Neo-Spinozist developments, misunderstandings of Kant’s radical ideas, and the inability of Kant himself to sufficiently defend and further explicate his epistemology. This book also examines the revisionist developments of the immanent systems of Kant’s German Idealist successors, presenting their systematic efforts as cautionary tales in their coice to reject Kant’s epistemic wisdom. Preface Dedication Contents Preface Introduction Notes Part I: The Kantian Twilight of Rationalism Chapter 1: Herder and Neo-Spinozism The Path to Contra-Rationalism The Conversations as an Apology The Conversations as an Opportunity The Conversations and the Controversy Conclusion Notes Chapter 2: Kant’s Critical System and Its Initial Reception Kantian Dualisms Part I Kantian Dualisms Part II Interpreting Kant Grasping the Transcendental Aesthetic Perspective and Methodology Conclusion Notes Chapter 3: Standing in Kant’s Shadow Reinhold’s Letters Reinhold’s Essay on New Theory Skeptical Challenges The Context of Kant’s Third Critique Conclusion Notes Part II: German Idealism’s Full Rejection of Kantian Discursivity Chapter 4: Fichte Goes His Own Way The Emergence of Fichte Interpreting Fichte Methodology, the Thing-in-Itself, and the Intellect The Ground of Cognition and the Self Freedom, Intellectual Intuition, and the Will Conclusion Notes Chapter 5: Schelling Goes His Own Way Interpreting Schelling Schelling’s Ideas for a Philosophy of Nature The Place of History and Art in Schelling’s System of Transcendental Idealism The Later Path of Schelling Conclusion Notes Chapter 6: Hegel Goes His Own Way Hegel with Schelling The Phenomenology through Self-Consciousness The Phenomenology from Reason to Absolute Knowing Hegel’s Logic Conclusion Notes Conclusion Bibliography Index About the Author