Skepticism: Birthmark of German Idealism and Workshop
Translating German Idealist Philosophy into English
Translating German Idealist Philosophy into English
The event, which is part of the Campus Book Festival, will be held on 22 March from 14:00 to 16:00 in Quadrangle.
Philosophies have hitherto given accounts on specific fields of knowledge; Kant's Critical Philosophy, however, claims to have uncovered the conditions for the possibility of knowledge as such – an account of account-giving as such. In his Elementary Philosophy, the Kantian Karl Leonhard Reinhold attempted to further systematize Kant's Critical Philosophy, unifying its foundational triad – Intuitions, Concepts, Ideas – under a first principle.
Both philosophers are attacked by the Skeptic Gottlob Ernst Schulze in his work Aenesidemus, critiquing aspects such as: the unknowability of things in themselves, the possibility of synthetic judgments a priori (proclaiming that Humean Skepticism has not been refuted), first principles, Kant's proof of God etc.
The talk will take a synoptical approach with emphasis on the aspect of 'translating philosophy' (primarily German-to-English), mapping out the philosophically and historically relevant problems that culminated into the infancy stage of German Idealism:
First Part:
- Ancient Skepticism: Pyrrhonian Skepticism versus Platonic Skepticism
- Rational Skepticism: René Descartes
- Empirical Skepticism: David Hume
- Criticism: Kant's reconciliation of Rationalism and Empiricism
Second Part:
- Kant's Critique of Pure Reason & Reinhold's Elementary Philosophy
- Schulze's Aenesidemus
Following the presentation, the beginning of Reinhold's Elementary Philosophy (1790) will be read, translated and interpreted, in which a unifying first principle - the principle of consciousness - for Kant's Critical System is conceptualised. This is followed by a brief look at Schulze's critique thereof (Ænesidemus, 1792), and Fichte's counter-arguments (Review of Ænesidemus, 1794).