Kant, Fichte, and the Legacy of Transcendental Idealism contains ten new essays by leading and rising scholars from the United States, Europe, and Asia who explore the historical development and conceptual contours of Kantian and post-Kantian philosophy. The collection begins with a set of comparative essays centered on Kant’s transcendental idealism, placing special stress on the essentials of Kant’s moral theory, the metaphysical outlook bound up with it, and the conception of the legitimate role of religion supported by it. The spotlight then shifts to the post-Kantian period, in a series of essays exploring a variety of angles on Fichte’s pivotal role: his uncompromising constructivism, his overarching conception of the philosophical project, and his radical accounts of the nature of reason and the constitution of meaning. In the remaining essays, the focus falls on German idealism after Fichte, with particular attention to Jacobi’s critique of idealism as “nihilism,” Schelling’s development of an idealistic philosophy of nature, and Hegel’s development of an all-encompassing idealistic “science of logic.” The collection, edited by Halla Kim and Steven Hoeltzel, will be of great value to scholars interested in Kant, Fichte, German idealism, post-Kantian philosophy, European philosophy, or the history of ideas.

Interest in German Idealism--not just Kant, but Fichte and Hegel as well--has recently developed within analytic philosophy, which traditionally defined itself in opposition to the Idealist tradition. Yet one obstacle remains especially intractable: the Idealists' longstanding claim that philosophy must be systematic. In this work, the first overview of the German Idealism that is both conceptual and methodological, Paul W. Franks offers a philosophical reconstruction that is true to the movement's own times and resources and, at the same time, deeply relevant to contemporary thought. At the center of the book are some neglected but critical questions about German Idealism: Why do Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel think that philosophy's main task is the construction of a system? Why do they think that every part of this system must derive from a single, immanent and absolute principle? Why, in short, must it be all or nothing? Through close examination of the major Idealists as well as the overlooked figures who influenced their reading of Kant, Franks explores the common ground and divergences between the philosophical problems that motivated Kant and those that, in turn, motivated the Idealists. The result is a characterization of German Idealism that reveals its sources as well as its pertinence--and its challenge--to contemporary philosophical naturalism.

Publisher Description

This book provides a close examination of Kant’s and Fichte’s idealisms, as well as the positions of their predecessors and successors, in order to isolate and evaluate various essential elements of transcendental inquiry. The authors examine Kant’s and Fichte’s contributions to transcendental idealism, transcendental arguments as a distinctive form of reasoning, and the metaphysically more ambitious forms of idealism developed by philosophers such as Schelling, Hegel, and Cohen. The book also addresses some of the most acute criticisms levelled against transcendental philosophy and explores more recent developments of the transcendental approach in the form of contemporary discourse ethics, especially as represented by Habermas and Apel. The authors also explore the contributions of a number of other important philosophers, including Husserl, Heidegger, Løgstrup, Peirce, and Putnam.

Comprehensive and incisive, with three new chapters, this updated edition sees world-renowned scholars explore a rich and complex philosophical movement.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive single-volume treatment of Fichte’s philosophy. In addition to offering new researchers an authoritative introduction and orientation to Fichtean thought, the volume also surveys the main scholarly and philosophical controversies regarding Fichtean interpretation, and defends a range of philosophical theses in a way that advances the scholarly discussion. Fichte is the first major philosopher in the post-Kantian tradition and the first of the great German Idealists, but he was no mere epigone of Kant or precursor to Hegel. His work speaks powerfully and originally to a wide range of issues of enduring concern, and his many innovations importantly anticipate major developments, including absolute idealism, phenomenology, and existentialism. He is therefore not only a path-breaking thinker but also a pivotal figure in Western intellectual history. Wide-ranging, well-organised and timely, this key volume makes Fichte’s work both accessible and relevant. It is essential reading for scholars, graduate researchers and advanced students interested in Fichte, German Idealism, and the history of nineteenth-century philosophy in the West.

This key collection of essays sheds new light on long-debated controversies surrounding Kant’s doctrine of idealism and is the first book in the English language that is exclusively dedicated to the subject. Well-known Kantians Karl Ameriks and Manfred Baum present their considered views on this most topical aspect of Kant's thought. Several essays by acclaimed Kant scholars broach a vastly neglected problem in discussions of Kant's idealism, namely the relation between his conception of logic and idealism: The standard view that Kant's logic and idealism are wholly separable comes under scrutiny in these essays. A further set of articles addresses multiple facets of the notorious notion of the thing in itself, which continues to hold the attention of Kant scholars. The volume also contains an extensive discussion of the often overlooked chapter in the Critique of Pure Reason on the Transcendental Ideal. Together, the essays provide a whole new outlook on Kantian idealism. No one with a serious interest in Kant's idealism can afford to ignore this important book.