Philosophy Commons^™

Paul Redding, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying So Much About Meaning And Love Hegel’S Metaphysics And Kant’S Epistemic Modesty, James Kreines

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

In this interest of time, I’ll just say something directly: this is an incredible book. Reading it, thinking it through, is extremely rewarding. I haven’t read a work of philosophy that had as much impact on me since being in school myself. The book presents you with new ideas and connections and it forces you to see philosophy and its history in new ways, even if you (like me) had been quite attached to your old ways. The book got into my head. Now I find myself, in idle moments, arguing with Paul up there in my head; as if …

The Logic Of Life: Hegel’S Philosophical Defense Of Teleological Explanation Of Living Beings, James Kreines

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Hegel accords great philosophical importance to Kant’s discussions of teleology and biology in the Critique of the Power of Judgment, and yet also disagrees with Kant’s central conclusions there. More specifically, Kant argues for a generally skeptical view of teleological explanation of living beings; Hegel responds that Kant should instead defend such explanation—and that the defense of teleology should lead Kant to different conclusions throughout his theoretical philosophy.

I aim to avoid the sort of interpretive charity that would begin with a currently popular philosophical view and then seek to find that view in historical texts. This approach would …

Between The Bounds Of Experience And Divine Intuition: Kant’S Epistemic Limits And Hegel’S Ambitions, James Kreines

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Hegel seeks to overturn Kant's conclusion that our knowledge is restricted, or that we cannot have knowledge of things as they are in themselves. Understanding this Hegelian ambition requires distinguishing two Kantian characterizations of our epistemic limits: First, we can have knowledge only within the “bounds of experience”. Second, we cannot have knowledge of objects that would be accessible only to a divine intellectual intuition, even though the faculty of reason requires us to conceive of such objects. Hegel aims to drive a wedge between these two characterizations, showing that we can have knowledge beyond Kant's bounds of experience, yet …

Book Review: Between Kant And Hegel: Lectures On German Idealism, By Dieter Henrich, James Kreines

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Recent decades have seen a surge of interest in the development of German philosophy from Kant to Hegel. A remarkable share of responsibility for this rests with Dieter Henrich, whose influence stems from his unequaled historical learning and unfailing philosophical sophistication. In 1973, Henrich gave a course of lecture son German idealism at Harvard. David Pacini and others transcribed the lectures, Pacini edited the transcripts, and they have now been published as Between Kant and Hegel.

Those looking for a broad introduction to Henrich’s approach will find one that is both sophisticated and a pleasure to read. Specialists and …

The Inexplicability Of Kant’S Naturzweck: Kant On Teleology, Explanation And Biology, James Kreines

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

Kant’s position on teleology and biology is neither inconsistent nor obsolete; his arguments have some surprising and enduring philosophical strengths. But Kant’s account will appear weak if we muddy the waters by reading him as aiming to defend teleology by appealing to considerations popular in contemporary philosophy. Kant argues for very different conclusions: we can neither know teleological judgments of living beings to be true, nor legitimately explain living beings in teleological terms; such teleological judgment is justified only as a “problematic” guideline in our search for mechanistic explanations. These conclusions are well supported by Kant’s defense of his demanding …