Offers an extremely bold, far-reaching, and unsuspected thesis in the history of philosophy: Aristotelianism was a dominant movement of the British philosophical landscape, especially in the field of logic, and it had a long survival. British Aristotelian doctrines were strongly empiricist in nature, both in the theory of knowledge and in scientific method; this character marked and influenced further developments in British philosophy at the end of the century, and eventually gave rise to what we now call British empiricism, which (...) is represented by philosophers such as John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume. Beyond the apparent and explicit criticism of the old Scholastic and Aristotelian philosophy, which has been very well recognized by the scholarship in the twentieth century and which has contributed to the false notion that early modern philosophy emerged as a reaction to Aristotelianism, the present research examines the continuity, the original developments and the impact of Aristotelian doctrines and terminology in logic and epistemology as the background for the rise of empiricism.Without the Aristotelian tradition, without its doctrines, and without its conceptual elaborations, British empiricism would never have been born. The book emphasizes that philosophy is not defined only by the ‘great names’, but also by minor authors, who determine the intellectual milieu from which the canonical names emerge. It considers every single published work of logic between the middle of the sixteenth and the end of the seventeenth century, being acquainted with a number of surviving manuscripts and being well-informed about the best existing scholarship in the field. ​. (shrink)

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. ".

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)

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)

Starting from the examination of a passage of the Dialogo sopra i massimi sistemi del mondo that has been largely ignored by the scholarship, in this paper I want to reveal the true nature of Galileo’s epistemology in terms of its epistemic ideal, that is that theory is capable of providing true and certain knowledge about natural phenomena coming from sensation. The investigation examines all the occurrences of the expression sensate esperienze in its singular and plural forms, both in the (...) Latin and in the vernacular. The research proceeds diachronically through an analysis of Galileo’s writings taken in order to show the progressive development of his epistemology. The paper will demonstrate how in thinking about sensate experiences Galileo had in mind as epistemic paradigm that of the epistemology of anatomy. (shrink)

The concept of »transcendental« is undoubtedly one of the most important terms in Kantian philosophy. For over one hundred and fifty years major Kantian scholars have debated its origin and set out various interpretations. The Kant-Forschung has recently established four different possible sources: 1) Schulmetaphysik 2) Ch. Wolff; 3) A. G. Baumgarten; 4) J. H. Lambert. The aim of this essay is to suggest a different origin and genesis of the Kantian concept of »transcendental« by the methodologies of Quellengeschichte and (...) Begriffsgeschichte, investigating the philosophical and historical background of Königsberg from the beginning of the seventeenth century to Kant and to show reasons for the shift of the concept of »transcendental« from metaphysics to logic. The doctrine of transcendentals was very much alive in Königsberg and already in Scholastic philosophers the »transcendentals« shifted its interest from being to the knowable, from ontology to logic. However, up to 1763, Kant accepts the Wolffian doctrine of transcendentals and the concept of »transcendental« is synonymous to »metaphysical«. In the second half of the Sixties, probably in the wake of the preparatory works to the Beweisgrund, Kant goes deeply into the interpretation of Baumgarten and the »transcendental« becomes synonymous with »essential« in opposition to »metaphysical«. In the wake of Crusius' reflections, instead, »transcendental« becomes »logical« in contrast with »metaphysical«. Beginning in the Seventies, in the preparatory fragments to the Kritik der reinen Vernunft, the »transcendental« establishes itself as a synonymous of »logical« and »essential« in opposition to »metaphysical« and »real«, and it concerns the object of knowledge in general without any reference to the experience. From this conception derives the concept of »transcendental« of the Kritik der reinen Vernunft as an examination of the condition of the possibility of an a priori knowledge. In the conclusion I argue that Kant did not deduce the doctrine of transcendentals from his logic, but that both doctrines are developed simultaneously and that Kant always tried to integrate them with each other. Fragments of the second half of the Seventies show a progressive attempt of this integration, which was doomed to fail. (shrink)

The paper aims to examine straightforwardly Thomas White’s Sciri, sive Scepticeset scepticorum jure disputationis exclusio and to contextualise it in the broadest intellectual framework of the seventeenth-century Aristotelianism. From the examination of the Exclusio we can see the novelty and freshness of White’s Aristotelian positions in attacking all kinds of scepticism. These originalities are the subject of the present article, rather than the well-known controversy with Joseph Glanvill.

Nel suo pionieristico lavoro Conditions in Königsberg and the Making of Kant's Philosophy, Giorgio Tonelli lamentava l'assenza di un'indagine approfondita sul contesto intellettuale di Königsberg e sull'eventuale influenza che esso esercitò su alcuni aspetti del pensiero di Kant. Questo libro vuole colmare questa lacuna prestando particolare attenzione alla tradizione aristotelica, alla Schulphilosophie, e alla corrente dell'eclettismo, che dominarono l'ambiente regiomontano sino all'avvento della filosofia critica kantiana. Il lavoro mostra come dai fallimenti dei progetti logici e metafisici precritici, legati alle influenze (...) ricevute dall'ambiente di Königsberg, Kant abbia tratto le idee e gli spunti per la stesura della Kritik der reinen Vernunft. (shrink)

Series Studien und Materialien Zur Geschichte der Philosophie Band 80.

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)

Das Ziel der Begriffsgeschichte ist es, eine kritische und moglichst vollstandige Ubersicht uber den Bedeutungswandel von Begriffen durch die Jahrzehnte zu geben, so Gustav Teichmuller in der Vorrede zu seinen Studien zur Geschichte der Begriffe. Ein solches Unterfangen bringt Uberlappungen mit der Terminologiegeschichte, der Wortgeschichte, der Problemgeschichte, der Ideengeschichte und der Sachgeschichte mit sich, denn alle diese Disziplinen untersuchen letztlich den philosophischen Diskurs und seine Wandlungen in der Zeit. Erst die Verdeutlichung ihrer geschichtlichen Wirksamkeit macht Begriffe fur die philosophische Reflexion (...) brauchbar und schafft den ausreichend begrundeten Ruckhalt fur ihre stringente Anwendung. Die Basis dafur bietet der lexikographische Ansatz des Lessico Intellettuale Europeo, das heute das grosste Repositorium von lemmatisierten Texten der Philosophie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte ist. Der von Riccardo Pozzo und Marco Sgarbi herausgegebene Band gliedert sich in drei Teile, die sich mit den neuen Entwicklungen in der Methodologie der Geschichte der Philosophie im 21. Jahrhundert befassen. Wahrend der erste Teil die methodischen Aspekte von Begriffs-, Problem- und Ideengeschichte thematisiert und der zweite Teil die Anwendung dieser Methoden auf die neuen Informationstechnologien zeigt, enthalt der dritte und letzte Teil einige Beispiele, an denen die Notwendigkeit der Verschrankung zwischen Begriffs-, Problem- und Ideengeschichte deutlich wird. (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)