Abstract The aim of the paper is to reassess the role of British Aristotelianism within the history of early modern logic between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as a crucial moment of cultural transition from the model of humanistic rhetoric and dialectic to that of facultative logic, that is, a logic which concerns the study of the cognitive powers of the mind. The paper shows that there is a special connection between Paduan Aristotelianism and British empiricism, through the mediation of (...) British Aristotelianism. British Aristotelians took the ideas of the Paduan Aristotelian tradition and carried them to an extreme, gradually removing them from the original Aristotelian context in which they were grounded and developing what would later become the fundamental ideas of British empiricism. (shrink)

The present contribute aims to reconstruct, using the methodology of intellectual history, the broad spectrum of metaphysical doctrines that Kant could know during the years of the formation of his philosophy. The first part deals with the teaching of metaphysics in Königsberg from 1703 to 1770. The second part examines the main characteristics of the metaphysics in the various handbooks, which were taught at the Albertina, in order to have an exhaustive overview of all metaphysical positions.O presente trabalho, valendo-se da (...) metodologia da história das idéias, visa reconstruir o amplo espectro de doutrinas metafísicas às quais Kant poderia ter acesso durante os anos de formação de sua filosofia. A primeira parte trata do ensino de metafísica em Königsberg, de 1703 a 1770. A segunda parte examina as principais características da metafísica com base nos diversos manuais em uso na Albertina, a fim de que se tenha um panorama exaustivo de todas as posições então objeto de ensino. (shrink)

In the 20th century, the role of the unconscious in Kant s philosophy has been in great part neglected by Kant scholars. Nevertheless, the unconscious, the other of consciousness, is a key problem of the critical philosophy. The purpose of the volume is to fill a substantial gap in Kant research and to offer a complete survey of the topic in different areas of research, such as history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, moral philosophy, and anthropology. ".

Kant, Rabe e la logica aristotelica - This article shows the influence of the Aristotelian Paul Rabe on Immanuel Kant’s philosophy. In the first part, I reconstruct the status quaestions regarding Rabe in Aristotelian studies and in Kantforschung. The second part looks at Rabe’s life and works. It is demonstrated in the third part that Kant’s definition of dialectic as Logik des Scheins comes from Rabe’s definition of dialectic as logica ex apparentibus. The fourth part shows the Aristotelian origin of (...) Kant’s doctrine of categories and schema and the fifth analyses the meaning of Rabe’s Analytica and its legacy in Kant. In the sixth section, the Aristotelian distinction kat’anthropon-kat’aletheian is examined in Rabe and Kant. The conclusion suggests that the chapter "Idee einer transzendentalen Logik" in Kritik der reinen Vernunft is an Einladungsschrift and that Kant became acquainted with Aristotle’s writings mainly between 1766 and 1772 when he was librarian at the Schlossbibliothek in Königsberg. (shrink)

The present contribute aims to reconstruct, using the methodology of intellectual history, the broad spectrum of metaphysical doctrines that Kant could know during the years of the formation of his philosophy. The first part deals with the teaching of metaphysics in Königsberg from 1703 to 1770. The second part examines the main characteristics of the metaphysics in the various handbooks, which were taught at the Albertina, in order to have an exhaustive overview of all metaphysical positions.

Gli storici della filosofia solitamente attribuiscono ai pensatori moderni l'invenzioni di concetto "soggetto", "oggetto" e "soggettività" e li concepiscono in direttamente in contrasto con la filosofia scolastica e aristotelica. Questo articolo suggerisce la presenza di una proto-teoria della soggettività in Aristotele. La teoria aristotelica della soggettività è fondata principalmente su quattro dottrine. In primo luogo, si può riscontrare nell'epistemologia aristotelica la presenza di una "prospettiva" e di un "punto di vista". Il secondo aspetto significativo è il concetto di determinazione dell'oggetto (...) della conoscenza, che nella filosofia aristotelica è rappresentato dalla nozione di "prosthesis". La terza dottrina si fonda sulla distinzione fra ciò che è più conoscibile per noi e ciò che è più conoscibile per natura. L'ultima dottrina riguarda la seconda natura del soggetto e gli abiti della conoscenza acquisiti attraverso l'esperienza, i quali spiegano perché i soggetti abbiano conoscenze diverse degli stessi oggetti secondo le loro precedenti esperienzePhilosophers usually attribute to modernity the invention of concepts like 'subject', 'object' and 'subjectivity' and they understand them in contrast to Scholastic and Aristotelian philosophies. The present paper suggests the presence of a proto-theory of subjectivity in Aristotle. The Aristotelian theory of subjectivity is grounded principally on four doctrines. First, we can recognize the presence of a 'perspective' and of a 'point of view' in the Aristotelian epistemology. The second relevant aspect is the concept of determination of the object of knowledge, which is in Aristotelian philosophy the notion of 'prosthesis'. The third doctrine lies on the distinction between 'what is more known to us' and 'what is more known by nature'. The last doctrine concerns the 'second nature' of the subject and the habits of knowledge acquired by experience, which explain why knowing subjects have different cognitions of the same object according to their own previous experience. (shrink)

Philosophers usually attribute to modernity the invention of concepts like 'subject', 'object' and 'subjectivity' and they understand them in contrast to Scholastic and Aristotelian philosophies. The present paper suggests the presence of a proto-theory of subjectivity in Aristotle. The Aristotelian theory of subjectivity is grounded principally on four doctrines. First, we can recognize the presence of a 'perspective' and of a 'point of view' in the Aristotelian epistemology. The second relevant aspect is the concept of determination of the object of (...) knowledge, which is in Aristotelian philosophy the notion of 'prosthesis'. The third doctrine lies on the distinction between 'what is more known to us' and 'what is more known by nature'. The last doctrine concerns the 'second nature' of the subject and the habits of knowledge acquired by experience, which explain why knowing subjects have different cognitions of the same object according to their own previous experienceGli storici della filosofia solitamente attribuiscono ai pensatori moderni l'invenzioni di concetto "soggetto", "oggetto" e "soggettività" e li concepiscono in direttamente in contrasto con la filosofia scolastica e aristotelica. Questo articolo suggerisce la presenza di una proto-teoria della soggettività in Aristotele. La teoria aristotelica della soggettività è fondata principalmente su quattro dottrine. In primo luogo, si può riscontrare nell'epistemologia aristotelica la presenza di una "prospettiva" e di un "punto di vista". Il secondo aspetto significativo è il concetto di determinazione dell'oggetto della conoscenza, che nella filosofia aristotelica è rappresentato dalla nozione di "prosthesis". La terza dottrina si fonda sulla distinzione fra ciò che è più conoscibile per noi e ciò che è più conoscibile per natura. L'ultima dottrina riguarda la seconda natura del soggetto e gli abiti della conoscenza acquisiti attraverso l'esperienza, i quali spiegano perché i soggetti abbiano conoscenze diverse degli stessi oggetti secondo le loro precedenti esperienze. (shrink)

In this paper I aim to investigate Hume's well-known distinction between impressions and ideas, following the methodology of the history of ideas, and showing its specificity and suggesting a possible source, which has not been given much attention by the scholarship, namely the logical doctrines of the physician and anatomist William Harvey, which provide the key concepts to understand Hume's logic of ideas. After some introductory remarks, the second part deals with the many issues involved in Hume's distinction, and in (...) the third part I examine Harvey's logic of ideas. In conclusion I assess Hume's debt to the English physician. (shrink)

«Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily reflection is occupied with them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me». With these famous words written on paper and inscribed in stone, Immanuel Kant concludes the Critique of Practical Reason. In this paper, I intend to show how this sentence is closely linked with: 1) the kantian doctrine on the sublime and 2) to the foundation of the (...) logic of the irrational in the Critique of Judgement. (shrink)

A historical and philosophical reassessment of the impact of Aristotle and early-modern Aristotelianism on the development of Kant’s transcendental philosophy. Kant and Aristotle reassesses the prevailing understanding of Kant as an anti-Aristotelian philosopher. Taking epistemology, logic, and methodology to be the key disciplines through which Kant’s transcendental philosophy stood as an independent form of philosophy, Marco Sgarbi shows that Kant drew important elements of his logic and metaphysical doctrines from Aristotelian ideas that were absent in other philosophical traditions, such as (...) the distinction of matter and form of knowledge, the division of transcendental logic into analytic and dialectic, the theory of categories and schema, and the methodological issues of the architectonic. Drawing from unpublished documents including lectures, catalogues, academic programs, and the Aristotelian-Scholastic handbooks that were officially adopted at Königsberg University where Kant taught, Sgarbi further demonstrates the historical and philosophical importance of Aristotle and Aristotelianism to these disciplines from the late sixteenth century to the first half of the eighteenth century. (shrink)

In this paper the author aims at showing that Kant’s awakening from the dogmatic slumber, often related to the reading of Hume, finds its full achievement only by means of the assimilation of the Aristotelian doctrines. If Hume provided a critique of the concept of “causality” conceiving it as a mere mental representation, in Kant’s opinion Aristotle provided a “new way” to conceive all the concepts of intellect, even though in a non-systematic way. Kant found the solution of his epistemological (...) problem in the peculiar Aristotelian tradition of Königsberg, according to which the categories are mental constructions or concepts of a mental order. Kant’s debt to Aristotelianism in the matter of the awakening is clear in his “terminological turn” of the years 1771-1772. In those years some important Aristotelian terms such as “category”, “schema”, “dialectic” and “analytic” appear for the first time. At that time, Kant’s awakening, influenced by Aristotelianism, was possible because the philosopher has been working as a librarian at the Schlossbibliothek, where he had at his disposal vast book holdings relating to the Aristotelian tradition. (shrink)

In his article, Kant ’s Ethics as a part of Metaphysics: a possible Newtonian Suggestion? With Some Comments on Kant ’s “Dream of a Seer”, Giorgio Tonelli suggests a possible relation between Isaac Newton’s conception of attraction and the metaphysical foundation of morals in the light of some considerations on Träume eines Geistersehers erläutert durch Träume der Metaphysik. In this paper, I argue that Immanuel Kant ’s notion of Ethics as a part of metaphysics does not simply derive from Newton (...) and his followers, it is also a philosophical necessity triggered by the development of Kant ’s system and his thought on spontaneity 2. I focus the attention especially on Kant ’s early writings of ethics, in which it is evident the breach with the tradition and the formation of the system. The fist part of the paper sketches the placement of ethics in Kant ’s pre-critical works and its status as science. The second part develops the systematic justification of Kant ’s insertion of ethics within metaphysics. The third part deals with the historical debate on soul-body’s relationship. The fourth and fifth parts account for the history of spontaneity and its reception in Kant ’s early writings. The last two, finally, deal with Kant ’s notion of ethics as part of metaphysics from 1770 to critical period. (shrink)

This article deals with the epistemology of Richard Burthogge. Friend and correspondent of Locke, Burthogge published two important epistemological treaties, the Organum Vetus & Novum and the Essay upon Reason, in which he developed a particular theory of knowledge close to idealism and conceptualism. In this theory he 1) elaborated an instrumental conception of logic; 2) limited the boundaries of reason to sensible experience; 3) conceived the mind as a center of activity, energy, and operations; 4) established that all sensible (...) knowledge is filtered by modi concipiendi, such as substance, quantity, quality, and causality; 5) stated that knowledge is merely phenomenal, namely it concerns only the objects as they appear and not as they really are; 5) established that objects have no reality and sense if not in relation to the mind and that they are framed by a priori rules that are constitutive of reason. The aim of the article is to examine in detail Burthogge's theory of knowledge and to show his original position within the historical and cultural setting of his time. (shrink)

In this paper I aim to investigate Hume’s well-known distinction between impressions and ideas, following the methodology of the history of ideas, and showing its specificity and suggesting a possible source, which has not been given much attention by the scholarship, namely the logical doctrines of the physician and anatomist William Harvey, which provide the key concepts to understand Hume’s logic of ideas. After some introductory remarks, the second part deals with the many issues involved in Hume’s distinction, and in (...) the third part I examine Harvey’s logic of ideas. In conclusion I assess Hume’s debt to the English physician. (shrink)