The Experiential Turn in Eighteenth-Century German Philosophy (Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Philosophy)

This collection of essays challenges the prevailing assumption that eighteenth-century German philosophy prior to Kant was largely defined by post-Leibnizian rationalism and, accordingly, a low esteem of the cognitive function of the senses. It does so by highlighting the various ways in which eighteenth-century German philosophers reconceived the notion and role of experience in their efforts to identify, defend, and contest the contribution of sensibility to disciplines such as metaphysics, theology, the natural sciences, psychology, and aesthetics. Engaging in depth with Tschirnhaus, Wolff, the Wolffians, eclecticism, __Popularphilosophie__, the Berlin Academy, Tetens, and Kant, its thirteen chapters present a more nuanced understanding of the German reception of British and French ideas and dismiss the prevailing view that German philosophy was largely isolated from European debates. Moreover, the book introduces a number of relatively unknown, but highly relevant philosophers and developments to non-specialized scholars and contributes to a better understanding of the richness and complexity of the German Enlightenment. "Recent years have seen a growing interest among scholars of 18th-century German philosophy in the period between Wolff and Kant. This book challenges traditional interpretations of this period that focus largely on post-Leibnizian rationalism and, accordingly, on a depreciation of the contribution of the senses to knowledge about the world and the self. It addresses the divergent ways in which eighteenth-century German philosophers reconceived the notion and role of experience in their efforts to identify, defend, and contest the contribution of foundational a priori principles and empirical data to the various branches of metaphysics, the natural sciences, and emerging disciplines such as psychology and aesthetics. The chapters are organized according to the four major schools that defined the various phases of German Enlightenment philosophy: Wolff and Wolffianism, Eclecticism and Populärphilosophie, the Berlin Academy, and Kant. Each chapter is devoted to one or more philosophers, several of whom are seriously under investigated or even unknown outside small circles of specialists. By framing the period in terms of the notion of experience, this book presents a more nuanced understanding of the German reception of British and French ideas and theories, dismisses the prevailing view that German philosophy was largely isolated from European debates, introduces a number of relatively unknown, but highly relevant philosophers and developments to non-specialized scholars, and contributes to a better understanding of the richness and complexity of the German Enlightenment"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I: Wolff and Wolffianism 1 Before and Beyond Leibniz: Tschirnhaus and Wolff on Experience and Method 2 The Role of Experience in Wolff’s General Cosmology 3 Aesthetica Experimentalis: Baumgarten and the Aesthetic Dimension of Experience PART II: Eclecticism and Popularphilosophie 4 The Thomasian Context: Crusius on Experience 5 Experience and Inner Sense: Feder–Lossius–Kant 6 Christoph Meiners’s Empiricist ‘Revision’ of Philosophy and Michael Hißmann’s Anti-Speculative Materialism PART III: The Berlin Academy 7 Contingency and Experience in Maupertuis’s Essay on Cosmology 8 The Role of Reason, Experience, and Physiology in J.H.S. Formey’s Essay on Dreams 9 Lambert on Experience and Deduction 10 On the Mitigated Phenomenalism of J.-B. Merian PART IV: Tetens and Kant 11 The Role of Experience in Kant’s Prize Essay 12 Tetens on the Nature of Experience: Between Empiricism and Rationalism 13 Kant’s Inquiries into a New Touchstone for Metaphysical Truths List of Contributors Index