Phenomenology on Kant, German Idealism, Hermeneutics and Logic


Book Description

Joseph 1. Kockelmans Pennsylvania State University In July of 1999, Prof. Dr. Thomas M. Seebohm turned 65 years old, and thus en tered mandatory retirement. His friends, colleagues, and former students thought that it would be fitting to celebrate the event of his retirement with a volume of essays in his honor, in order to render homage to a great human being, an outstanding and dedicated teacher, a highly regarded philosopher and scholar, but above all a dear friend and colleague. When the editors thought about a unifying theme for the anthology, they finally settled on the research interests of Professor Seebohm; in their view the vast do main of his competence and interests would leave all participants the freedom to select a topic of their own choice that would nonetheless lie within this large realm as well as within the area of their own research interests. Professor Seebohm's research interests encompass work in Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, German Idealism (Kant in particular), History of Philosophy, Phi losophy of the formal sciences (of Logic in particular), Philosophy of History, Methodology and Philosophy of the Human Sciences, (including Psychology and Sociology), History of 19th Century British Empiricism (Mill), American Pragma tism, Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Law and Practical Philosophy, the devel opment of the history of philosophy in Eastern Europe, especially in the Middle Ages, but also in the nineteenth century.




The Problem of Free Harmony in Kant's Aesthetics


Book Description

In this book, Kenneth F. Rogerson explores the first half of Kant's Critique of Judgment, entitled the "Critique of Aesthetic Judgment." Rogerson provides an interpretation of arguably the most important issue in Kant's aesthetic theory, namely, a free harmony of the imagination and understanding. He uses this interpretation to explore several other important issues in Kant's aesthetic theory, including his distinction between art and natural beauty, the doctrine of aesthetic ideas, and the connection between beauty and morality.




Kant’s Practical Philosophy


Book Description

This work presents Kant as a vital revolutionary thinker, showing that his Practical Philosophy has been marred by views that it is formalist and centred on categorical imperative. Discussing his commitment to the notion of rational religion and his treatment of evil, this important study provides a vivid account of Kant's concerns.




Kant and the Sciences


Book Description

Kant and the Sciences aims to reveal the deep unity of Kant's conception of science as it bears on the particular sciences of his day and on his conception of philosophy's function with respect to these sciences. It brings together for the first time twelve essays by leading Kant scholars that take into account Kant's conception of a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and anthropology.




The Highest Good in Kant’s Philosophy


Book Description

The idea of a final end of human conduct – the highest good – plays an important role in Kant’s philosophy. Unlike his predecessors Kant defines the highest good as a combination of two heterogeneous elements, namely virtue and happiness. This conception lies at the centre of some of the most influential Kantian doctrines such as his famous “moral argument” for the rationality of faith, his conception of the unity of reason and his views concerning the final end of nature as well as the historical progress of mankind. To be sure, the different treatments of the highest good in Kant’s work have led to a great deal of discussion among his readers. Besides Kant’s arguments for moral faith, recent debate has focused on the place of the highest good within Kant’s moral theory, on the antinomy of pure practical reason, and on the idea of the primacy of practical reason. This collection of new essays attempts to re-evaluate Kant’s doctrine of the highest good and to determine its relevance for contemporary philosophy.




The Hypocritical Imagination


Book Description

For philosophers such as Kant, the imagination is the starting point for all thought. For others, such as Wittgenstein, what is important is only how the word 'imagination' is used. In spite of the attention the imagination has received from major philosophers, remarkably little has been written about the radically different interpretations they have made of it. The HypoCritical Imagination: Between Kant and Levinas is an outstanding contribution to this vaccuum. Focusing on Kant and Levinas, John Llewelyn takes us on a dazzling tour of the philosophical imagination. He shows us that despite the different treatments they accord to the imagination, there is much to be gained from comparing these two key thinkers. From Kant, Llewelyn shows how the imagination is the common root of all understanding. He contrasts this with the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, for whom the imagination plays an ambivalent role both as necessary for and a threat to recognition of the other. John Llewelyn also introduces the importance of the work of Heidegger Schelling, Hegel, Arendt and Derrida on the imagination and what this work can tell us about the relationship between the imagination and ethics, aesthetics and literature. The HypoCritical Imagination: Between Kant and Levinas is a brilliant reading of a neglected but important philosophical theme and is essential reading for those in contemporary philosophy, art theory and literature.