Problems with Religion and Politics 345turn (early 1789) characterized by "reflective judgment," and an ethical turn
(late summer or fall 1789), in which the concept of the "supersensible"
was central.^53 This last phase is thought to have "resulted directly from
Kant's struggle with pantheism."^54 If this is right, then Kant worked specif¬
ically on the third Critique for over three years, influenced largely by out¬
side forces. Zammito believes it was mainly Herder who was important.
Indeed, he views Kant's third Critique primarily as an attempt to answer
Herder, claiming that the third Critique "was almost a continuous attack
on Herder" and that especially most of the Critique of Teleological Judg¬
ment must be read as an argument in which Herder functions as the "un¬
named antagonist." Indeed, the "origins of the Third Critique lie in Kant's
bitter rivalry with Herder."^55 This is what forms the most important con¬
textual background of this work. Herder's new dogmatism, hylozoism,
and artistic understanding of science needed to be refuted before Kant's
criticism could succeed.
It is true that Kant thought Herder needed to be refuted, but — and this
is important - he himself did not want to do this. He tried to delegate this
job to Kraus, declining to refute Herder because of his desire to work on
the third Critique. It is unlikely, therefore, that this work turned into a mere
polemic against Herder. The conflict between Kraus and Kant also shows
that Kant did not suddenly, in the fall of 1789, begin to think about pan¬
theism. Indeed, he had already written notes for Kraus before June of 1787.
Zammito's key question, "Why did teleology intrude?" or "Why did tele¬
ology 'insinuate itself into' a work on aesthetics?," is anachronistic. Kant's
contemporaries would not have seen this as an intrusion. They would have
viewed it as an issue that was closely connected to the problems Kant was
addressing. Physico-theology, or the consideration of the "structure of the
world with all its order and beauty," was closely connected to considerations
that today belong to aesthetics.^56 Aesthetics was still not a very well-defined
discipline, and it was a different enterprise from what we understand it to
be today. Finally, Kant's letter to Reinhold in December of 1787 makes it
quite clear that teleology was an important part of his project from the be¬
ginning.^57 This is just what might be expected, given that teleology had
played an important part in Kant's thinking beginning in high school. The
interconnections between teleology and theology had already interested
Kant in the General Natural History.^5 ^ There was no need for Herder to
bring this problem to Kant's attention.
Kant's third Critique is often read simply as a treatise in aesthetics, and
its first part does indeed deal essentially with aesthetic problems. In it, Kant