“My only pride is that I am a human being—ein Mensch.” So Kant wrote in one of his Marginalia in his copy of the “Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen” of 1764. And he confessed that he had learned from Rousseau “to honor man.” But we may well ask, What really is at issue here?

In the introduction the author states that his aim is “to determine whether Kant’s moral thought should be called ‘teleological’.” In his conclusion he admits that “several puzzling aspects of Kant’s moral thought have been illuminated [and] several erroneous interpretations have been corrected.” Both statements are true. But it is also true that some problems still remain.

The subtitle of this book—Letzbegründung, Subjektivität und praktische Vernunft im transzendentalen Idealismus—clearly defines the topic of this work of 296 closely argued pages. What the author attempts is a basic criticism of transcendental philosophy with respect to the intrinsic beginning of that philosophy in the different interpretations of Fichte and Husserl.

This book is, in effect, a supplement to the author’s The Search for Concreteness: Reflections on Hegel and Whitehead. It deals with a problematic which is not merely Hegelian or merely Whiteheadian. The discussions of the points of view of Peirce, Popper, Wieman, and of other “perspectives” is proof of this. But, as the author states, his concern is “to salvage the core of the Hegelian account of concrete actuality as grasped a prior by setting it within a context in (...) which hypothetical reason is also accorded a clearly defined role.”. (shrink)

This book, Volume 21 of the Synthese Historical Library, is one of the more important publications in recent years pertaining to Kant’s philosophy. It deals specifically with Kant’s precritical writings, his disavowal of the Leibnizian conception of space and the emergence of Kant’s own epistemological position. Miss Buroker develops her arguments forcefully, clearly, and with a philosophical sensitivity that is quite exceptional.

Although published first, this is Volume IV of a new and most timely edition of Hegel’s Collected Works. The entire set will consist of at least 32 volumes. Taking the volume now at hand as a fair sample of what is to come, we can expect not only a handsome, well printed and attractively bound set, but, most importantly, a distinctively scholarly collection that should be a great boon to Hegel scholarship the world over.

This attractively produced volume of the SUNY Series in Hegelian Studies consists of the papers and commentaries presented at the Seventh Biennial Meeting of the Hegel Society of America in 1982. The topics range from Quentin Lauer’s presidential address, “Hegel as a Poet,” to Winfield’s prize winning paper, “Hegel’s Challenge to the Modern Economy.” Other topics deal with Boehme’s influence on Hegel, Hegel and Krochmal on the Jewish Volkgeist, Hegel and the Reformation, World History and the History of the Absolute (...) Spirit, The Theory and Practice of the History of Freedom, The Dialectic in Hegel’s Philosophy of History, Hegel, Art, and History, and The Impotence of Spirit. With the exception of the presidential address and the prize winning paper, all essays are followed by commentaries which in some cases are perhaps even more important than are the essays commented upon. The extensive notes indicate in every case the meticulous scholarship of all contributors, including the commentators. (shrink)