Kant and His German Contemporaries: Volume 2, Aesthetics, History, Politics, and Religion: Aesthetics, History, Politics, and Religion

Kant's philosophical achievements have long overshadowed those of his German contemporaries, often to the point of concealing his contemporaries' influence upon him. This volume of new essays draws on recent research into the rich complexity of eighteenth-century German thought, examining key figures in the development of aesthetics and art history, the philosophy of history and education, political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. The essays range over numerous thinkers including Baumgarten, Mendelssohn, Meyer, Winckelmann, Herder, Schiller, Hamann and Fichte, showing how they variously influenced, challenged, and revised Kant's philosophy, at times moving it in novel directions unacceptable to the magister himself. The volume will be valuable for all who are interested in this distinctive period of German philosophy. Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 List of Contributors 9 Acknowledgments 11 List of Abbreviations 12 Introduction 15 Part I Aesthetic Perspectives 25 Chapter 1 Baumgarten, Meier, and Kant on Aesthetic Perfection 27 Chapter 2 Mendelssohn, Kant, and the Aims of Art 42 Chapter 3 Winckelmann’s Greek Ideal and Kant’s Critical Philosophy 64 Part II Historical Perspectives 83 Chapter 4 Eighteenth-Century Anthropological and Ethnological Studies of Ancient Greece: Winckelmann, Herder, Caylus, and Kant 85 Chapter 5 Conjectural Truths: Kant and Schiller on Educating Humanity 105 Chapter 6 Herder’s Theory of Organic Forces and Its Kantian Origins 123 Part III Political Perspectives 143 Chapter 7 Kant and Mendelssohn: Enlightenment, History, and the Authority of Reason 145 Chapter 8 Johann Jakob Moser and Immanuel Kant on Public Law and the German Religious Constitution 164 Chapter 9 A Family Quarrel: Fichte’s Deduction of Right and Recognition 184 Part IV Religious Perspectives 207 Chapter 10 Rational Faith and the Pantheism Controversy: Kant’s “Orientation Essay” and the Evolution of His Moral Argument 209 Chapter 11 Reason and Immortality: Herder versus Kant 229 Chapter 12 Reason within the Limits of Religion Alone: Hamann’s Onto-Christology 252 Bibliography 271 Index 290 This collection of new essays, the first of its kind in English, considers the ways in which the philosophy of Immanuel Kant engages with the views of lesser-known eighteenth-century German thinkers. Each chapter casts new light on aspects of Kant's complex relationship with these figures, particularly with respect to key aspects of his logic, metaphysics, epistemology, theory of science, and ethics. The portrait of Kant that emerges is of a major thinker thoroughly engaged with his contemporaries - drawing on their ideas and approaches, targeting their arguments for criticism and responding to their concerns, and seeking to secure the legacy of his thought among them. This volume will open the door for further research on Kant and his methods of philosophical inquiry, while introducing readers to the distinctive and influential philosophical contributions of several previously neglected figures. This is the first collective study in English devoted to examining how Immanuel Kant's work engages with the philosophy of his lesser-known German contemporaries, particularly with respect to key aspects of his thinking in logic, metaphysics, epistemology, theory of science, and ethics. This volume will be important for advanced students and scholars. This book is for students and scholars of the development of philosophical perspectives on aesthetics, history, politics, and religion in eighteenth-century Germany. It concentrates on contemporaries of Immanuel Kant, the era's leading philosopher, whose achievements have so long overshadowed those of his German contemporaries. A detailed and innovative study of Kant's engagement with the ideas and methods of previously neglected philosophical figures in eighteenth-century Germany