Marco Sgarbi

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The paper shows how the re-discovery of Aristotle’s Poetics in the sixteenth century led to the rise of art criticism, contrary to the long-standing idea that criticism was born in the Enlightenment. The focus of the article is on the polymath Ludovico Dolce, who, in his Dialogo sulla Pittura (1557), employs the precepts of the Aristotelian poetics to assess firm criteria of judgment of artworks. Unlike many other writings of the period on the same subject, Dolce’s reflections did not offer neither a history of art nor a body of rules on how to paint or sculpt, rather sought the proper ways to interpret accurately the artistic work in all its aspects, even the most subjective. Through stringent parallels with Aristotle’s Poetics, Dolce outlines what can be considered one of the earliest form of art criticism.

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.

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.

Syllogism is a form of logical argument allowing one to deduce a consistent conclusion based on a pair of premises having a common term. Although Aristotle was the first to conceive and develop this way of reasoning, he left open a lot of conceptual space for further modifications, improvements and systematizations with regards to his original syllogistic theory. From its creation until modern times, syllogism has remained a powerful and compelling device of deduction and argument, used by a variety of figures and assuming a variety of forms throughout history. The Aftermath of Syllogism investigates the key developments in the history of this peculiar pattern of inference, from Avicenna to Hegel. Taking as its focus the longue durée of development between the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century, this book looks at the huge reworking scientific syllogism underwent over the centuries, as some of the finest philosophical minds brought it to an unprecedented height of logical sharpness and sophistication. Bringing together a group of major international experts in the Aristotelian tradition, The Aftermath of Syllogism provides a detailed, up to date and critical evaluation of the history of syllogistic deduction.