Gru nd legung zur Metaphysik der Sitten

The impact of freedom of contract in the 19th century extended far beyond the legal arena as an economic slogan and an ethical attitude. Atiyah traces the development and subsequent decline of the freedom of contract, depicting its effects on the law's development and the foundation of contractual obligations, as well as its broader implications for 19th century English life.

The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract

Reflecting Adam Smith's wide learning and varied interests, these essays shed considerable light on his place in the Scottish Enlightenment. Included are histories of astronomy, ancient logic, and ancient physics; essays on the "imitative" arts and the affinity between music, dancing, and poetry; and a critical review of Samuel Johnson's famous Dictionary. which Smith originally published in the Edinburgh Review (1755-56).

The essays on philosophical subjects

In this book, Professor Simuț demonstrates how Baur came to understand Christian theology as a Gnostic philosophy of religion under the influence of Bohme's unorthodox esoteric theosophy and Hegel's modern religious philosophy.

F. C. Baur's Synthesis of Böhme and Hegel: Redefining Christian Theology as a Gnostic Philosophy of Religion

This rigorous examination of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason provides a comprehensive analysis of the major metaphysical and epistemological questions of Kant's most famous work. Author James Van Cleve presents clear and detailed discussions of Kant's positions and arguments on these themes, as well as critical assessments of Kant's reasoning and conclusions. Expansive in its scope, Van Cleves study covers the overall structure of Kant's idealism, the existence and nature of synthetic a priori knowledge, the epistemology of geometry, and the ontological status of space, time, and matter. Other topics explored are the role of synthesis and the categories in making experience and objects of experience possible, the concepts of substance and causation, issues surrounding Kant's notion of the thing in itself, the nature of the thinking self, and the arguments of rational theology. A concluding chapter discusses the affinities between Kant's idealism and contemporary antirealism, in particular the work of Putnam and Dummett. Unlike some interpreters, Van Cleve takes Kant's professed idealism seriously, finding it at work in his solutions to many problems. He offers a critique in Kant's own sense-a critical examination leading to both negative and positive verdicts. While finding little to endorse in some parts of Kant's system that have won contemporary favor (for example, the deduction of the categories) Van Cleve defends other aspects of Kant's thought that are commonly impugned (for instance, the existence of synthetic a priori truths and things in themselves). This vital study makes a significant contribution to the literature, while at the same time making Kant's work accessible to serious students.

Problems from kant

This paper advances the view that the history of philosophy is both a kind of history and a kind of philosophy. Through a discussion of some examples from epistemology, metaphysics, and the historiography of philosophy, it explores the benefit to philosophy of a deep and broad engagement with its history. It comes to the conclusion that doing history of philosophy is a way to think outside the box of the current philosophical orthodoxies. Somewhat paradoxically, far from imprisoning its students in outdated and crystallized views, the history of philosophy trains the mind to think differently and alternatively about the fundamental problems of philosophy. It keeps us alert to the fact that latest is not always best, and that a genuinely new perspective often means embracing and developing an old insight. The upshot is that the study of the history of philosophy has an innovative and subversive potential, and that philosophy has a great deal to gain from a long, broad, and deep conversation with its history.

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The Benefit to Philosophy of the Study of its History

Part I. Youthful Vocations (1646-76): 1. The birth of a vision: background, childhood, and education (July 1646-March 1667) 2. The vision broadens: Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Mainz (March 1667-March 1672) 3. Old wine in new bottles: Paris, London, and Holland (March 1672-December 1676) Part II. Dreams and Reality (1676-1716): 4. A universal genius as librarian, historian, and mining engineer: Hanover and Lower Saxony (December 1676-October 1687) 5. In the footsteps of the Guelfs: southern Germany, Austria, and Italy (November 1687-June 1690) 6. Back under the Guelf Dukes: Hanover and Wolfenbuttel (June 1690-February 1698) 7. Between brother and sister: Hanover and Berlin (February 1698-February 1705) 8. Light and shadows: Hanover, Berlin, Wolfenbuttel, Vienna (February 1705-September 1714) 9. Epilogue: last years in Hanover (September 1714-November 1716).

Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography

This contribution discusses Leibniz’s conception of faith and its relation to reason. It shows that, for Leibniz, faith embraces both cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions: although it must be grounded in reason, it is not merely reasonable belief. Moreover, for Leibniz, a truth of faith (like any truth) can never be contrary to reason but can be above the limits of comprehension of human reason. The latter is the epistemic status of the Christian mysteries. This view raises the problem of how it can be determined whether a doctrine above the full grasp of human reason does or does not imply contradiction. The notion of ‘presumption’ and the ‘strategy of defence’ are presented and discussed as Leibniz’s way to tackle this issue. Finally, the article explores the ‘motives of credibility’ which, according to Leibniz, can and should be produced to uphold the credibility of a putative divine revelation, including his account of miracles.

Faith and Reason

Arguments for the Existence of God: The Continental European Debate

In this paper I will discuss certain aspects of Leibniz's theory and practice of ‘soft reasoning’ as exemplified by his defence of two central mysteries of the Christian revelation: the Trinity and the Incarnation. By theory and practice of ‘soft’ or ‘broad’ reasoning, I mean the development of rational strategies which can successefully be applied to the many areas of human understanding which escape strict demonstration, that is, the ‘hard’ or ‘narrow’ reasoning typical of mathematical argumentation.1 These strategies disclose an ‘other’ reason, i.e. a complementary set of arguments and methods developed by Leibniz in order to deal with crucial issues such as the ‘weighting’ of probabilities and truths of fact. I will argue that one of the most compelling examples of the importance and fertility of Leibniz's ‘other’ reason is provided by his solution to the problems posed by the unique epistemological status of theological mysteries.

Maria Rosa Antognazza

Papers

The Benefit to Philosophy of the Study of its History

Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography

Faith and Reason

Arguments for the Existence of God: The Continental European Debate

The defence of the mysteries of the trinity and the incarnation: an example of leibniz's 'other' reason