•  92
    Peirce on Kant’s Refutation of Idealism
    In Cornelis De Waal (ed.), The Oxford handbook of Charles S. Peirce, Oxford University Press. pp. 442-457. 2024.
    This chapter analyzes two short texts in which Peirce sketches out an anti-skeptical argument inspired by Kant’s refutation of idealism. The chapter will first consider why Peirce found Kant’s argument interesting and promising, given that it is often regarded as problematic and unsuccessful. It will then briefly reconstruct Kant’s refutation, highlighting its most problematic passages. Moreover, since Peirce’s own version of the argument relies on Kant’s views regarding the temporal structure o…Read more
  •  65
    Conceptual Analysis and the Analytic Method in Kant’s Prize Essay
    Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
    Famously, in the essay Inquiry Concerning the Distinctness of the Principles of Natural Theology and Morality (Prize Essay), Kant attempts to distance himself from the Wolffian model of philosophical inquiry. In this respect, Kant scholars have pointed out Kant’s claim that philosophy should not imitate the method of mathematics and his appeal to Newton’s “analytic method.” In this article, I argue that there is an aspect of Kant’s critique of the Wolffian model that has been neglected. Kant pre…Read more
  •  6
    I respond to Karin de Boer, Thomas Land, and Claudio La Rocca’s comments on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and the Method of Metaphysics (CUP 2023). I first provide a quick outline of some of the main claims I make in the book. I then directly address their criticisms, which I group into three categories. The first group of comments raises doubts concerning my characterization of the central tasks of the critique of pure reason. The second targets the fact that I downplay faculty analysis as an …Read more
  •  34
    In Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and the Method of Metaphysics (CUP 2023), I argue that the first Critique is not only a ‘propaedeutic’ to metaphysics, but actually already establishes parts of metaphysics. These parts belong to what Kant calls transcendental philosophy. Additionally, I also provide an account of Kant’s critique of dogmatism and Wolff as its main defender. In this paper, I take up Luigi Filieri’s and Davide Dalla Rosa’s invitation to further develop my characterization of trans…Read more
  •  34
    The Roles of Kant’s Doctrines of Method
    Journal of Transcendental Philosophy 4 (2): 73-79. 2023.
  •  157
    Can Metaphysics Become a Science for Kant?
    In Robb Dunphy & Toby Lovat (eds.), Metaphysics as a Science in Classical German Philosophy, Routledge. pp. 150-166. 2023.
    In this chapter, I investigate a problem for Kant’s claim that metaphysics can reach the status of science. The problem arises when one considers Kant’s account of the “architectonic unity” of metaphysics in the Architectonic of Pure Reason. Attaining architectonic unity is a condition for becoming a science for any body of cognitions that purports to be such. This is achieved when the cognitions belonging to a science are systematically organized according to the “idea of reason” which lies at …Read more
  •  80
    What is Wrong with Intuitions? An Assessment of a Peircean Criticism of Kant
    Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 50 (3): 340. 2014.
    In his 1868 ‘Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man’ and ‘Some Consequences of Four Incapacities’ Peirce famously rejected the possibility of having intuitions. He defined an intuition as ‘a cognition not determined by a previous cognition of the same object’ or as a ‘premiss not itself a conclusion.’ The rejection of intuitive knowledge can thus be seen as an expression of Peirce’s enduring conviction that our knowledge is by nature inferential. Even though the main polemical ta…Read more
  •  122
    In two often neglected passages of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant submits that the Critique is a 'treatise' or a 'doctrine of method'. These passages are puzzling because the Critique is only cursorily concerned with identifying adequate procedures of argument for philosophy. In this book, Gabriele Gava argues that these passages point out that the Critique is the doctrine of method of metaphysics. Doctrines of method have the task of showing that a given science is indeed a science because i…Read more
  •  136
    Peirce on Vital Matters and the Scientific Method
    In Daniel Herbert, Paniel Reyes Cardenas & Robert Talisse (eds.), Pragmatic Reason: Christopher Hookway and the American Philosophical Tradition, Routledge. pp. 95-111. 2023.
    In this paper, I try to make sense of some puzzling claims that Peirce makes in the Cambridge conferences lectures. I identify four tasks that a successful interpretation of those claims must accomplish. First, we must provide a plausible reading of the “no belief in science” thesis. Second, we must provide a compelling interpretation of the “no science in vital matters” thesis. Third, we must explain Peirce’s distinction between two forms of holding for true. Fourth, we should be able to solve …Read more
  •  275
    Kant on Conviction and Persuasion
    In Luigi Filieri & Sofie Møller (eds.), Kant on Freedom and Human Nature, Routledge. pp. 135-150. 2023.
    Interpretations of Kant’s account of the forms of “taking-to-be-true” (Fürwahrhalten) have generally focused on three such forms: opinion (Meinung), belief (Glaube), and knowledge (Wissen). A second distinction that has received comparatively less attention is that between conviction (Überzeugung) and persuasion (Überredung). Kant appears to use the distinction between the subjective and the objective sufficiency of a taking-to-be-true to characterize all of these forms. However, it is impossibl…Read more
  •  22
    Kant on the Status of Ideas and Principles of Reason
    Open Philosophy 5 (1): 296-307. 2022.
    In the Transcendental Dialectic of the first Critique, Kant famously claims that even if ideas and principles of reason cannot count as cognitions of objects, they can play a positive role when they are used “regulatively” with the aim of organizing our empirical cognitions. One issue is to understand what assuming “regulatively” means. What kind of attitude does this “assuming” imply? Another issue is to characterize the status of ideas and principles themselves. It is to this second issue that…Read more
  •  228
    Kant on Wolff and Dogmatism
    In Camilla Serck-Hanssen & Beatrix Himmelmann (eds.), The Court of Reason: Proceedings of the 13th International Kant Congress, De Gruyter. pp. 299-308. 2021.
  • Danksagung
    In Camilla Serck-Hanssen & Beatrix Himmelmann (eds.), The Court of Reason: Proceedings of the 13th International Kant Congress, De Gruyter. pp. 21-24. 2021.
  •  10
    Introduction to Pragmatism and Common-Sense
    European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 9 (2). 2017.
    The topic of common sense is central to pragmatism, both classical and contemporary. In different ways, Peirce, James and Dewey all wrote extensively on this idea, highlighting its theoretical complexity as well as its heuristic function in philosophical inquiry. In more recent times, to give only one noteworthy example, Nicholas Rescher published a book titled Common Sense (2005) in which he argues against those philosophical approaches that downplay the epistemological importance of common...
  •  1
    Christopher Hookway, The Pragmatic Maxim: Essay
    European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 5 (2). 2013.
    Christopher Hookway is, beyond question, one of the most respected scholars working on Peirce and the tradition of pragmatism. His books Peirce (Routledge, 1985) and Truth, Rationality, and Pragmatism (Oxford University Press, 2000) are essential readings for any scholar with an interest on Peirce and pragmatism. Hookway has shown how Peirce has still a lot to contribute to contemporary debates in logic, epistemology, the philosophy of language, etc. The present book, which collects 9 essays...
  •  1
    Isaac Levi, Pragmatism and Inquiry: Selected E
    European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 6 (1). 2014.
    Isaac Levi is a central figure in contemporary pragmatism, who, drawing extensively on the philosophy of classical pragmatists like Charles S. Peirce and John Dewey, has been able to successfully develop, correct, and implement their views, thus presenting an innovative and significant approach to various issues in contemporary philosophy, including problems in logic, epistemology, decision theory, etc. His books (just to mention a few of them) Gambling with Truth (Knopf 1967), The Enterprise...
  • Martin Hartmann, Jasper Liptow, Marcus Willaschek (eds.), Die Gegenwart des Pragmat
    European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 6 (2). 2014.
    The book collects the papers presented at a conference held at Goethe University Frankfurt in 2007, which celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the publication of James’ Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. It contains contributions from leading scholars, who discuss the relevance of pragmatism for addressing current problems in epistemology, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, political philosophy, the philosophy of religion etc. It also contains papers that...
  •  1
    Sind die regulativen Ideen ein doktrinaler Glaube?
    In Violetta L. Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit. Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, De Gruyter. pp. 1207-1216. 2018.
  •  43
    What is Kant good for? Making sense of the diversity in the reception of Kant's philosophical method
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 27 (2): 243-254. 2019.
    One cannot be wrong when one says that Kant has been one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy. His influence on later debates stretches over a multiplicity of fields of phil...
  •  68
    Kant and Crusius on Belief and Practical Justification
    Kantian Review 24 (1): 53-75. 2019.
    Kant’s account of practical justification for belief has attracted much attention in the literature, especially in recent years. In this context, scholars have generally emphasized the originality of Kant’s thought about belief (Glaube), and Kant indeed offers a definition of belief that is very different from views that were prevalent in eighteenth-century Germany. In this article, however, I argue that it is very likely that Christian August Crusius exerted influence on Kant’s definition of be…Read more
  •  4
  •  57
    Kant, the Third Antinomy and Transcendental Arguments
    Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 100 (2): 453-481. 2019.
    In this paper, I consider whether a reading of Kant's solution to the Third Antinomy can offer material for devising a new model of transcendental argument. The problem that this form of argument is meant to address is an antinomy between two apparently contradictory claims, q and ¬q, where we seem equally justified in holding both. The model has the following form: p; q is a necessary condition of p; the only justification we have for q is that it is a necessary condition of p; p is justified o…Read more
  •  122
    Kant, Wolff and the Method of Philosophy
    Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy 8 271-303. 2018.
    Both in his pre-critical writings and in his critical works, Kant criticizes the Wolffian tradition for its use of the mathematical method in philosophy. The chapter argues that the apparent unambiguousness of this opposition between Kant and Wolff notwithstanding, the problem of ascertaining the relationship between Kant’s and Wolff’s methods in philosophy cannot be dismissed so quickly. Only a close consideration of Kant’s different remarks on Wolff’s approach and a comparison of the methods t…Read more
  •  71
    C. I. Lewis, Kant, and the reflective method of philosophy
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 27 (2): 315-335. 2019.
    ABSTRACTIf it seems unquestionable that C. I. Lewis is a Kantian in important respects, it is more difficult to determine what, if anything, is original about his Kantianism. For it might be argued that Lewis’ Kantianism simply reflects an approach to the a priori which was very common in the first half of the twentieth century, namely, the effort to make the a priori relative. In this paper, I will argue that Lewis’ Kantianism does present original features. The latter can be detected by focusi…Read more
  •  15
    Prescission
    The Commens Encyclopedia: The Digital Encyclopedia of Peirce Studies. 2016.
    Prescission is a method used by Peirce to separate concepts and ideas from one another and to find hierarchical relationship of dependence among them. In particular, prescission is applied in those cases in which two objects cannot be imagined separately, but we can nonetheless suppose one without the other. Prescission is of fundamental importance within Peirce’s system because it is used to identify relationships among the three fundamental categories.
  •  30
    Introduction: Peirce’s rhetoric and methodeutic
    Semiotica 2018 (220): 217-219. 2018.
    Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2018 Heft: 220 Seiten: 217-219.
  •  28
    This paper is a reading of Peirce’s manuscript “Ideas, stray or stolen, about scientific writing.” The latter text has been considered to be a key for understanding the relationship between speculative rhetoric and methodeutic. While I agree that it includes essential reflections on the third branch of Peirce’s logic, I will argue that the classification of rhetoric studies that it contains cannot be used to clarify the way in which methodeutic and speculative rhetoric are related to one another…Read more