Kirjahaku

Because it laid the foundation for nearly all subsequent epistemologies, Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" has overshadowed his other interests in natural history and the life sciences, which scholars have long considered as separate from his rigorous theoretical philosophy - until now. In "Kant's Organicism", Jennifer Mensch draws a crucial link between these spheres by showing how the concept of epigenesis - a radical theory of biological formation - lies at the heart of Kant's conception of reason. As Mensch argues, epigenesis was not simply a metaphor for Kant but centrally guided his critical philosophy, especially the relationship between reason and the categories of the understanding. Offsetting a study of Kant's highly technical theory of cognition with a mixture of intellectual history and biography, she situates the epigenesis of reason within broader investigations into theories of generation, genealogy, and classification, and against later writers and thinkers such as Goethe and Darwin. Distilling vast amounts of research on the scientific literature of the time into a concise and readable book, Mensch offers one of the most refreshing looks not only at Kant's famous first Critique but at the history of philosophy and the life sciences as well.

Offsetting a study of Kant's theory of cognition with a mixture of intellectual history and biography, Kant's Organicism offers readers an accessible portrait of Kant's scientific milieu in order to show that his standing interests in natural history and its questions regarding organic generation were critical for the development of his theoretical philosophy. By reading Kant's theoretical work in light of his connection to the life sciences - especially his reflections on the epigenetic theory of formation and genesis - Jennifer Mensch provides a new understanding of much that has been otherwise obscure or misunderstood in it. "Epigenesis"- a term increasingly used in the late eighteenth century to describe an organic, nonmechanical view of nature's generative capacities - attracted Kant as a model for understanding the origin of reason itself. Mensch shows how this model allowed Kant to conceive of cognition as a self-generated event and thus to approach the history of human reason as if it were an organic species with a natural history of its own. She uncovers Kant's commitment to the model offered by epigenesis in his first major theoretical work, the Critique of Pure Reason, and demonstrates how it informed his concept of the organic, generative role given to the faculty of reason within his system as a whole. In doing so, she offers a fresh approach to Kant's famed first Critique and a new understanding of his epistemological theory.