Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T21:59:07.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Facing the Bounds of Tradition: Kant's Controversy with the Philosophisches Magazin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Yaron Senderowicz
Yaron Senderowicz
Affiliation:
Department of PhilosophyTel Aviv University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The main subject examined in this paper is Immanuel Kant's controversy with Philosophisches Magazin regarding Kant's new theory of judgments. J. A. Eberhard, editor of Philosophisches Magazin, and his colleagues wanted to vindicate the Wollfian traditional concept of judgments by undermining Kant's claims. As will be demonstrated, their arguments were effective mainly in exposing the ambiguity that was inherent in Kant's concept of the synthetic a priori; an ambiguity that resulted from Kant's desire—central to his critique of metaphysics—to present judgments pertaining to mathematics, (dogmatic) metaphysics, and pure natural science as judgments which shared a common form. Exposing this ambiguity was not the intended result, and it was insufficient for the purpose of vindicating the Wollfian tradition. The contributors to Philosophisches Magazin ignored the important properties shared by the class of judgments falling under Kant's concept of synthetic a priori judgments. They also ignored the fact that their position was unable to account for the logical phenomena that motivated Kant to present a new theory of judgments. On the other hand, Kant's theory of judgments was insensitive to the important differences that exist among the distinct types of judgments falling under his concept of a synthetic a priori judgment. This latter point is clearly shown in the controversy regarding the novelty of Kant's concept of a synthetic a priori judgment, and in the controversy regarding the function of intuitions within synthetic judgments.

A result of the controversy was that Kant's concept of the synthetic a priori, which he believed to be an exact concept, was revealed to be a metaphor: no more than an invitation to view certain intellectual fields in the light of others. On the other hand, Eberhard and his colleagues failed to come up with satisfactory answers to Kant's questions within their traditional concept of judgment. Both parties refused to acknowledge this result. Consequently, the search for a new logic, a new architectonic order, and a new unity within reason became a general problem for the new generation of philosophers.

Type
Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , Summer 1998 , pp. 205 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, E. H. 1973 The Kant-Eberhard Controversy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Allison, E. H. 1985 “The Originality of Kant's Distinction Between Analytic and Synthetic Judgments.” In The Philosophy of Imanuel Kant, edited by Kennington, R.. Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America.Google Scholar
Arnauld, A. and Nicole, P. [1683] 1996 Logic: or the Art of Thinking. Translated by Buroker, J. V.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, L. W. 1965a. “Kant's Theory of Definition.” In Beck, L. W. Studies in the Philosophy of Kant. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Beck, L. W. 1965b. “Can Kant's Synthetic Judgments Be Made Analytic?.” In Beck, L. W. Studies in the Philosophy of Kant. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Beiser, F. C. 1987. The Fate of Reason. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press..Google Scholar
Dascal, M. and Senderowicz, Y.. 1992 “How Pure Is Pure Reason?” Histoire, Epistemologie, Langage 14(2): 129–152.Google Scholar
Descartes, R. 1985 Philosophical Writings, 3 vols. Translated by Cottingham, R., Stoothoff, D. and Murdoch, D.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Eberhard, J. A. 1789a. “Ueber die Schranken der Menschlichen Erkenntniss.” Philosophisches Magazin Erster Band:5–29.Google Scholar
Eberhard, J. A. 1789b. “Ueber die logische Wahrheit.” Philosophisches Magazin Erster Band:150–173.Google Scholar
Eberhard, J. A. 1789c. “Die Unterscheidung der Urtheile in analytische und synthetische.” Philosophisches Magazin Erster Band:307–332.Google Scholar
Eberhard, J. A. 1790. “Weitere Ausführung der Untersuchung über die Unterscheidung der Urteile in analytische und synthetische.” Philosophisches Magazin Zweiter Band:285–315.Google Scholar
Eberhard, J. A. 1791. “Die analytischen und synthetischen Urtheile.” Philosophisches Magazin Dritter Band:280–303.Google Scholar
Gaukroger, H. S. 1989. Cartesian Logic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Gram, M. S. 1968. Kant, Ontology and the A Priori. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Gram, M. S. 1980. “The Crisis of Syntheticity: The Kant-Eberhard Controversy” Kantstudien 71: 155–180.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1902–. Kants Gesammelte Schriften: herausgegeben von der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften (formerly Königlichen Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften). 29 vols. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1763. The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God. In Kant 1902-.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. [1781] [1787] 1978 (or CPR) Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Kemp-Smith, N.. London: MacMillan31.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. [1783] 1950. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Translated by Beck, L. W.. New York and London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. [1790] On a Discovery According to Which Any New Critique of Pure Reason Has been Made Superfluous by an Earlier One. In Kant 1902–.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1970 Kant's Philosophical Correspondence 1759–1799. Edited and translated by Zweig, A.. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. 1975 “Kant on the Foundations of Mathematics.” Philosophical Review 84:23–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, J. 1975. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Maass, J. G. E. 1789. “Ueber den Höchsten Grundsatz der synthetischen Urtheile; in Beziehung auf die Theorie von der mathemathischen Gewissheit.” In Philosophisches Magazin Erster Band:186–231.Google Scholar
Maass, J. G. E. 1791. “Der Satz des zureichenden Grundes.” In Philosophisches Magazin Dritter Band:173–203.Google Scholar
Maimon, S. 1965. Gesammelte Werke. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.Google Scholar
O'Neil, E. B. 1972. “Cartesian Simple Natures.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 10:161–179.Google Scholar
Parsons, C. 1964. “Infinity and Kant's Concept of ‘Possibility of Experience’” Philosophical Review 73:182–197.Google Scholar
Reinhold, K. L. 1789. “Philosophisches Magazin, drittes und viertes Stück.” Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 168(2):529–534.Google Scholar
Saner, H. 1973. Kant's Political Thought. Translated by Ashton, E. B. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schultz, J. 1784. Erläuterungen über des Herrn Prof. Kants Kritik der reinen Vernunft. Königsberg: Dendgel.Google Scholar
Van de Pitte, P. F. 1988. “Intuitions and Judgments in Descartes Theory of Truth.” Journal of History of Philosophy 26:453–470.Google Scholar