Reality and negation – Kant’s PRinciPle of anticiPations of PeRcePtion

studies in german idealism

Series Editor:

Reinier Munk, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Advisory Editorial Board:

frederick Beiser, Syracuse University, U.S.A.daniel dahlstrom, Boston University, U.S.A.

george di giovanni, McGill University, Montreal, CanadaPaul guyer, University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

detlev Pätzold, University of Groningen, The Netherlandsandrea Poma, University of Torino, Italy

VolUMe 11

for other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com /series/6545

Reality and negation – Kant’s

PRinciPle of anticiPations of PeRcePtion

an inVestigation of its iMPact

on the Post-Kantian deBate

by

MaRco gioVanelli

dr. Marco giovanelliUniversità di torinoPiazza s. giulia 210124 torinoitalymarco.giovanelli@unito.it

issn 1571-4764isBn 978-94-007-0064-2 e-isBn 978-94-007-0065-9doi 10.1007/978-94-007-0065-9springer dordrecht heidelberg london new york

© springer science+Business Media B.V. 2011no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.

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a mio padre, in memoriam

vii

Abbreviations

original german texts (abbreviations are in alphabetical order)1

aa Kant, immanuel. Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. eds. Preussische akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin-Brandenburgische akademie der Wissenschaften and akademie der Wissenschaften in göttingen (Berlin: Reimer, 1900)

cgW cassirer, ernst. Gesammelte Werke. ed. Birgit Recki (hamburg: Meiner, 1998)cW cohen, hermann. Werke. ed. helmut holzhey (hildesheim: olms, 1977)fga fichte, Johann gottlieb. Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen Akademie der

Wissenschaften. eds. Reinhard lauth, hans Jacob and hans gliwitzky (stuttgart: frommann-holzboog, 1962)

fss fries, Jakob friedrich. Sämtliche Schriften. eds. gert König and lutz geldsetzer (aalen: scientia Verlag, 1967)

gM leibniz, gottfried Wilhelm. Leibnizens mathematische Schriften. ed. carl immanuel gerhardt (halle: schmidt, 1850)

gP leibniz, gottfried Wilhelm. Die philosophischen Schriften von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. ed. carl immanuel gerhardt (Berlin: Weidmann, 1875)

hKa schelling, friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von. Historisch-kritische Ausgabe. eds. hans Michael Baumgartner, Wilhelm g. Jacobs, hermann Krings and hermann Zeltner (stuttgart: frommann-holzboog, 1976)

hsW herbart, Johann friedrich. Sämtliche Werke. eds. Karl Kehrbach and otto flügel. neudruck ed (aalen: scientia Verlag, 1964)

hW hegel, georg Wilhelm friedrich. Werke in zwanzig Bänden. eds. eva Moldenhauer and Karl Markus Michel (frankfurt, Main: suhrkamp, 1969)

MgW Maimon, salomon. Gesammelte Werke. ed. Valerio Verra. Reprogr. nachdr. ed (hildesheim: olms, 1965)

sW schelling, friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von. Sämmtliche Werke. ed. Karl friedrich august schelling (stuttgart, augsburg: J.g. cotta, 1856)

1Unless a reference is provided to an existing english translation, all quotes referring to the original german texts are my translation.

viii abbreviations

Most frequently cited english translation

A Kant, immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason, tr. Paul guyer and allen W. Wood (cambridge, new york: cambridge University Press, 1998)

B Kant, immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason, tr. Paul guyer and allen W. Wood (cambridge, new york: cambridge University Press, 1998)

ix

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................... xi

1 From the Anticipations of Perception to the Dynamic Conception of Matter ................................................................................ 1

1.1 anticipation as A Priori Knowledge ............................................... 1 1.2 Perception and sensation ................................................................. 5 1.3 the strangeness of the ‘anticipations’ ............................................ 7 1.4 the Quantity of Quality: degree or intensive Magnitude ............... 9 1.5 the two formulations of the Principle ........................................... 16 1.6 the category of Reality ................................................................... 19 1.7 the distinction Between Realitas Phaenomenon

and Realitas noumenon ................................................................... 23 1.8 the critique of the concept of gradus Perfectionis ....................... 26 1.9 from the ontological Meaning to the Physical Meaning

of the concept of degree ................................................................. 28 1.10 force and sensation ......................................................................... 30 1.11 the dynamic conception of Matter ................................................ 34

2 From Real Opposition to the Problem of Change ................................. 41 2.1 logical opposition and Real opposition ........................................ 41 2.2 Quantitative and Qualitative opposition .......................................... 50 2.3 the Problem of change ................................................................... 52 2.4 change and Real opposition ........................................................... 54 2.5 change as Quantitative Variation..................................................... 57 2.6 Maimon’s theory of differentials ................................................... 59 2.7 change and synthetic Unity ............................................................ 66

3 The Anticipations of Perception in Post-Kantian Idealism ................... 71 3.1 fichte and the opposition Between the i and the not−i ................. 71 3.2 schelling and the Philosophy of nature .......................................... 82 3.3 the Problem of Quality and the opposition between

Positive and negative ....................................................................... 100

x contents

3.4 speculative Philosophy of nature and Mathematical Philosophy of nature .......................................................................... 109

3.5 the absolute as Quantitative indifference ......................................... 119 3.6 hegel and the “Mathematics of the infinite” ...................................... 124 3.7 Being, nothingness, and Becoming ................................................... 144 3.8 herbart and Being as Pure affirmation .............................................. 150

4 The Anticipations of Perception in Neo-Kantian Idealism ................... 157 4.1 from classical idealism to the Return to Kant .................................. 157 4.2 from Psychophysics to infinitesimal calculus .................................. 162 4.3 cohen and the history of the infinitesimal Method ........................... 178 4.4 intensive Magnitude and infinitesimal Magnitude ............................. 198 4.5 from synthesis A Priori to the logic of the origin........................... 202 4.6 from the logic of the origin to the logic

of the concept of Relation ................................................................. 207 4.7 concept of thing and concept of function ....................................... 216 4.8 ontological interpretations of Kant and the crisis

of the neo-Kantian hermeneutic Paradigm ....................................... 221

Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 231

Works Cited ..................................................................................................... 235

Index ................................................................................................................. 249

xi

Kant’s principle of the anticipations of Perception has been rightly called the “for-gotten principle.”2 critical literature dedicated to the other “principles of pure understanding” in particular to the analogies of experience, is nearly endless. in contrast, disregarding allusions to the principle in monographs and commentaries that aim to give an overall picture of the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft),3 contributions dedicated specifically to the anticipations of Perception are relatively few. this disparity in treatment seems completely justified by the fact that in the structure of the Critique of Pure Reason, or even within the chapter entitled “system of all Principles of Pure Understanding” alone, the relation between reality and negation that is discussed the anticipations of Perception seems to be a minor question. the question certainly cannot be placed on the same level as other great topics in Kant’s work, in particular that of the cause-effect con-nection, which seems contain the very meaning of the copernican revolution.

however, the post-Kantian debate, which extends from the end of the 1700s to the epoch of the so-called “return to Kant,” gives a completely different impression. the reformulation of the relation between reality and negation that Kant introduces proves to be an indispensable component of “critical” thought that distinguishes it from every form of “dogmatic” metaphysics, especially that of the leibnizian-Wolffian tradition. Moreover, the relation was understood by post-Kantian philoso-phers as a breach, allowing them to penetrate Kant’s system in order to reconstruct it from the inside, rescuing it from the seemingly inescapable difficulties that it had fallen into.

the guiding hypothesis of the present work is that if we are to fully understand the anticipations of Perception’s meaning, we need not only to examine Kant ’s

Introduction

2see “the forgotten Principle: Kant’s anticipations of Perception” is the title of theodore e. Uehling’s intervention at the fifth international congress on Kant held in Mainz, germany in 1981: Uehling, theodore e. “the forgotten Principle: Kant’s anticipations of Perception.” in akten des 5. internationalen Kant-Kongresses Mainz. april 4–8, 1981. ed. gerhard funke. (Bonn: Bouvier, 1981).3i have provided the original german title following the first reference to texts that have been translated into english. Vice versa, i have provided an approximate english translation of the title following the first reference to any untranslated text.

xii introduction

text closely and attentively (chapter 1 and 2), as far as possible, but also elucidate the impact that the few pages that Kant dedicates to the second of his synthetic principles in the Critique of Pure Reason had on succeeding philosophy, from so-called german “classical” idealism (chapter 3) to neo-Kantian idealism (chapter 4). i certainly do not pretend to cover every thinker who deals with or refers to this theme in the abundant essays and publications that, directly or indirectly, treat Kant’s theoretical philosophy. nor do i intend to retrace every interpretation that has been proposed during the two centuries following the appearance of Kant’s opus maius. Rather, i aim to identify the essential philosophical nucleus of the anticipations of Perception in what remains constant despite the various transfor-mations that it undergoes in Post-Kantian philosophy. even in authors so distinct that any comparison seems impossible at first sight, one discovers an astounding affinity between themes and problems, so much so that the very process of com-parison reveals the most appropriate means of approaching, with ever more preci-sion, the fundamental problem raised by the anticipations of Perception.

here, one can observe the “intentional tension”4 that characterizes critical phi-losophy. the interpreter is obliged to go beyond Kant in order to access what he alludes to only indirectly. on the one hand, such an approach inevitably tends to strain the meaning of Kant’s text. on the other hand, i will show that only in this manner is a genuinely “philosophical” understanding of the problem possible, a problem that seems especially hard to grasp on the basis of philological analysis alone.

Acknowledgements there are many people who have contributed to making this book possible. first and foremost, i would like to thank my Ph.d. advisors, andrea Poma, for giving me both freedom and guidance to conduct my research and helmut holzhey for early encouragement to work on this topic as well as for his hospitality at the University of Zürich, where most part of this book was written. through their own work and through discussions with me, they have been a continuing source of inspiration and advice over the past years. this book owes a great deal to Reinier Munk for his interest in my work and for accepting the present volume in his distinguished series. anonymous referees’ comments helped to improve the manuscript in many respects and are gratefully acknowledged. lastly, i am happy to have this occasion to express my deep grati-tude to my friend Roberto toledo for his patient and meticulous work in translating the italian manuscript into english and for his numerous suggestions that significantly improved it.

4Mathieu, Vittorio. La filosofia transcendentale e l’ ‘Opus postumum’ di Kant (turin: filosofia, 1958), 6.