Federico Rampinini

The present work is focused on the relationship that Bloch establishes with the writings of the so-called Kantian critical period. The more critical literature has often addressed how Bloch had always appreciated Kant’s practical philosophy and seen in Sollen a remarkable impulse to the utopical transformation, opposed to Hegel’s panlogism. Nonetheless, thanks to a study of the lessons held in Leipzig, it is possible to better analyze this relationship and spot how Bloch’s judgement concerning the Kantian ethics, after his adhesion to marxism, takes a more analytic and severe turn. The only element of Kant’s thought that will still be esteemed by Bloch throughout the years is the historical reflection.

Ernst Bloch conducted an important analysis on the history of philosophy, in order to identify the utopic thoughts of the past, which needed to be rediscovered. These thoughts, together with other forms of human creativity, are fundamental to identify the real possibility to achieve utopia. This article aims at analyzing the complex relationship established by Bloch with Kant, in order to understand the developments of Bloch’s doctrine. Notwithstanding the eminent importance of Hegel’s legacy, Kant’s one is by no means irrelevant in the Blochian philosophy. Therefore, an accurate analysis can clarify some turning points of Bloch’s philosophical evolution. Critical studies have often argued that Bloch always esteemed Kant’s practical philosophy, thanks to its manifold “utopian tracesµ. Nevertheless, a more severe judgment about Kant may be shown by an accurate investigation, especially of the Leipziger Vorlesungen. At first, a remarkable impulse to the utopic transformation is seen by Bloch in Kantian Sollen, in contrast with Hegelian panlogism. However, after his adhesion to Marxism, Bloch’s appraisal became more severe. To conclude with, my research will focus on the main reason of this change, which could be found in the dependence of the epistemological and ontological principles on the ethical ones, which instead are very independent in Kant. As a result, only the Kantian reflection about history continues to be appreciated.

My aim is to discuss the interpretations of the pivotal themes of Bloch’s thought, as considered in two recent and relevant books. Firstly, it considers Catherine Moir’s interesting analysis of the Blochian materialism, although with an attempt to rationalise and connect Bloch to Kant not entirely convincing. Secondly, it analyses Gerardo Cunico’s persuasive interpretation, which highlights the messianic and ontological aspects of the Blochian philosophy. Finally, it argues Bloch’s relevance, focusing on the comparison with some of the most important contemporary philosophers, as suggested by Moir, and outlining a philosophy of hope, which goes beyond Bloch but in his same spirit, as proposed by Cunico.

Ce volume réunit des contributions consacrées à différents aspects de la philosophie et de la culture du monde antique. Les études rassemblées ici couvrent ainsi un large arc chronologique et thématique, d’Homère à l’Antiquité tardive, et prennent également en considération la réception de l’Antiquité à l’Époque moderne. Offertes en hommage à Aldo Brancacci, historien de la philosophie antique dont les travaux ont profondément marqué l’étude de la pensée grecque, ces contributions réunissent des spécialistes internationaux et dialoguent avec plusieurs des positions et des interprétations proposées par Aldo Brancacci dans ses travaux. L’ouvrage constitue ainsi un instrument précieux pour l’étude des traditions philosophiques de l’Antiquité et de leur postérité.

Sebbene gli studi critici italiani intorno al pensiero di Ernst Bloch, soprattutto negli ultimi anni, si siano espressi con un particolare vigore, mancava ancora una ricostruzione teorica e storica adeguata della filosofia della musica in Geist der Utopie, che tenga conto da un lato della concezione primigenia dell’utopia, quale si presenta in questa stessa opera, e dall’altro lato della ricca ed elaborata costellazione di figure, nelle quali si sviluppa proprio il concetto di utopia, che deve gran parte della sua ispirazione e genesi teoretica alle riflessioni su tematiche filosofico-musicali. Si tratta, allora, cominciando da Geist der Utopie, di rintracciare i concetti chiave della filosofia della musica in tutta l’opera di Bloch.

Despite its early marginalization due to its perceived irrelevance to Kant’s epistemology, recent decades have witnessed renewed interest in his account of the sublime. Scholars have revisited its anthropological, moral, and metaphysical implications, emphasizing its potential to enrich Kant’s broader philosophical framework. This paper examines these interpretations, arguing that they effectively challenge the traditional view of the sublime as merely incidental to Kant’s theory of taste, thereby enriching our understanding of it. It also provides an overview of Kant’s account of the sublime, with particular emphasis on the issue of the genuinely sublime object: while the sublime is characterized by contradictory elements, it remains a positive experience that elevates the subject—a claim supported by a brief linguistic analysis of the term Erhabene.

This paper reconsiders Kant's notoriously ambivalent evaluation of music in the Critique of the Power of Judgment. While Kant draws a sharp distinction between the beautiful and the agreeable, his remarks on music oscillate between dismissing it as fleeting pleasure and recognizing it as a fine art. Against both biographical and dismissive readings, the article argues that this dual assessment arises from theoretical difficulties intrinsic to Kant's system. Three challenges underpin the ambiguity: (1) the problem of identifying an a priori element in the perception of sound; (2) the ephemeral and non-representational character of music; and (3) its lack of conceptual content. Through an analysis of Kant's pre-critical writings and critical philosophy, the paper shows that these challenges complicate, but do not preclude, music's status as a beautiful art. Music's thematic unity and its power to generate aesthetic ideas reveal the active interplay of the faculties that enables judgements of taste. Moreover, Kant's framework allows for both agreeable and beautiful evaluations of the same artwork, depending on the subject's disposition, without contradiction. Far from undermining his aesthetics, Kant's two-fold appraisal of music enriches his theory of taste, situating music as a paradigmatic art form that exemplifies the free play of imagination and understanding and expands the scope of aesthetic experience.

La nozione di “ sensus communis ” è una delle nozioni più importanti e allo stesso tempo complesse dell’intera filosofia kantiana. Tale complessità è dovuta alla diversità di significati che essa acquisisce nel corso degli scritti kantiani, i quali non dedicano mai una analisi precipua a questo concetto. Recenti studi, come quelli di Zhengmi Zhouhuang e di Serena Feloj, hanno contribuito a focalizzare l’attenzione su tale nozione, sulla sua importanza e sulle difficoltà ad essa connesse. Proprio a partire dalla discussione di queste interessanti analisi, vorrei proporre una lettura epistemologica del “senso comune”, che tenga conto della molteplicità delle connotazioni che tale nozione di volta in volta assume, senza per questo perdere di vista l’unità e la sistematicità del sistema delle facoltà. Questa nozione a mio giudizio può essere identificata con la stessa facoltà di giudizio: facoltà che nell’esperienza estetica esprime pienamente la sua eautonomia, essendo a sé stessa sia oggetto sia legge. In questa senso la trattazione del “ sensus communis ” rende più che mai evidente l’importanza e la ricchezza teorica dell’approfondimento delle condizioni trascendentali che ha luogo nella terza Critica.

Bloch’s philosophy of music is one of the most interesting of the twentieth century, particularly in the context of Marxist aesthetics. This article focuses on the various peculiarities of this thought, which seldom are highlighted. Firstly, through a new analysis of the musical sections of Spirit of Utopia and The Principle of Hope, the relation between utopia and music will be discussed in Sections 2 and 3 in order to show the originality of Bloch’s refusal of the Marxist base-superstructure model in the field of aesthetics. In contrast to the other philosophies of music, the study of music inspires theoretical speculation in Bloch’s thought and not vice versa. In order to demonstrate this connection, in Sections 4 and 5, the idea of the sound in Spirit of Utopia will be examined and compared to the conception of the matter as it is presented in The Principle of Hope, The Materialism Problem, its History and Substance, and other works. These paragraphs aim to highlight how the early conception of sound was the model for the later conception of matter.