Kant: A Biography

(WallPaper) #1

478 Notes to Pages 229-233



  1. Ak 2, p. 452.

  2. Ak 10, pp. 2iyf. (not in Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig).

  3. Ak 2 , p. 449.

  4. For Mendelssohn's biography see especially Altmann, Mendelssohn. See also his
    Moses Mendelssohns Frühschriften zur Metaphysik (Tübingen, 1969). Mendelssohn
    lived from 1729 to 1786. Though not born in Berlin, he lived most of his life
    there. Starting from relatively humble beginnings, he became the most promi¬
    nent member of the Jewish community in that city. He was one of the closest
    friends of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who portrayed him in one of his plays as
    "Nathan the Wise." Advocating the cultural assimilation of the Jewish commu¬
    nity into German society, he became famous as "the Jewish Socrates" for his
    philosophical thought. He was also the target of attack by fundamentalist Chris¬
    tians, who challenged him to explain why - given the enlightened beliefs he
    held - he had not yet converted to Christianity. He defended his cause admirably.
    Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who came to his defense in a satirical attack on
    the fundamentalists, summed up their fears, saying: "A Jew who was a natural
    honest man would be regarded as a fellow human being and might even be pre¬
    ferred to a Christian? The very idea makes one shudder." Many enlightened
    Germans took Mendelssohn to be the very model of an enlightened person. He
    not only was important for his thought, but also became an icon for their most
    deeply held beliefs.

  5. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, p. 87.

  6. Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, ed. Lewis White Beck
    (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950), pp. 8f. (Ak 4, pp. 26of).

  7. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, pp. 58f. (Ak 10, pp. 96f).

  8. Ak 10, p. 122 (not in Zweig).

  9. Ak io, p. 123 (not in Zweig).

  10. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, pp. 73 (Ak 10, p. 132). See also p. 74 (Ak 10,
    p. 133): "The Göttingen reviewer [of the dissertation] dwells on some applica¬
    tions of the system that in themselves are not essential and with respect to which
    I myself have since changed my view - with the result, however, that my main
    aim has only been furthered."

  11. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, pp."]"]{. (Ak 10, p. 144).

  12. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, p. 86 (Ak 10, p. 199).

  13. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, p. 89 (Ak 10, p. 213). I have changed the
    translation.

  14. Ak 10, pp. 23if. (not in Zweig).

  15. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, p. 90 (Ak 10, p. 241).

  16. Ak 10, p. 241.

  17. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, pp. 93f (Ak 10, p. 266).

  18. Kant, Correspondence, tr. Zweig, pp. ioof. (Ak 10, p. 338). I have slightly changed
    the translation.

  19. For a more systematic discussion of the issues connected with this claim, see
    Heiner F Klemme, Kants Philosophie des Subjekts. Systematische und entmicklungsge-
    schichtliche Untersuchungen zum Verhältnis von Selbstbewußtsein und Selbsterkenntnis
    (Hamburg: Meiner Verlag, 1996).

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