Volume 109, Issue 3

I examine the division of labor between the Metaphysical Deduction (MD) and the Transcendental Deduction (TD). Against a common reading, I argue that the MD is insufficient to prove the a priori origin of the categories. For both Kant and his main opponent, namely Hume, the question of whether the categories have an a priori origin in the pure understanding is inseparable from the question of whether they have objective validity. Since the MD does not establish the objective validity of the categories, it cannot establish their a priori origin either. The MD is nevertheless an indispensable part of Kant’s project because it lays the argumentative groundwork for the proof structure of the TD and because it provides the systematic plan for the future metaphysics of experience.

The purpose of this study is to show the importance of theatre and theatrical theory in Kant’s philosophical thought by reconstructing his relationship to the dramatic arts and how they shaped his thinking - that is, how he developed a theory of acting which is central to understanding not only his conception of society but also the role played by pragmatic anthropology in his critical system. Indeed, one can say that his theory of the art of acting leaves nothing to be desired in comparison with Diderot’s philosophical program as expressed in the “Paradox of the Actor”, which is considered one of the most important texts on acting in the history of aesthetics.

According to Bittner, Kant has established a theory of action that is untenable because it attempts to explain action on the basis of a theory of practical syllogisms. This article defends Kant’s view (developed in GMS II, AA 04: 412.26-30) by explaining the meaning in which actions can be ‘deduced’ from practical laws or from maxims.

Arthur Liebert was the managing director of the Kant Society and co-editor of Kant-Studien for over 20 years, until 1933. Despite his lifetime of achievement and the challenges he faced as an emigrant, his story remains all but forgotten today. Using archival sources, this essay reconstructs the biographical details of his emigration, focusing on his final years from 1933 to 1946.