Lorenzo Spagnesi
Biographic Data
| ID | 5993571 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lorenzo Spagnesi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lorenzo |
| FAMILY NAME | Spagnesi |
| SIGNATURE | SPAGNESI L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Universität Trier |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2483-909X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Truth, understanding, and normativity in scientific models
Scientific models often contain assumptions known not to be true. Despite being false representations, models provide us with a key understanding of phenomena. What is more, the falsehoods that figure in models are in many cases central to them, and there is no available alternative to their use. If falsehoods play such an irreplaceable role in our understanding of phenomena, it would seem that truth is not a key concern of scientific modeling. I…
Kant on phenomenal substance
In this paper, I offer a systematic account of Kant’s view on ‘phenomenal substance’. Several studies have recently analysed Kant’s notion of substance. However, I submit that more needs to be said about how this notion is reconceptualized within the critical framework to vindicate a genuine and legitimate sense of substance in the phenomenal realm. More specifically, I show that Kant’s transcendental idealism does not commit him to a rejection o…
Natures, ideas, and essentialism in Kant
Despite recent essentialist approaches to Kant’s laws of nature, it is unclear whether Kant’s critical philosophy is compatible with core tenets of essentialism. In this paper, I first reconstruct Kant’s position by identifying the key metaphysical and epistemological features of his notion of ‘nature’ or ‘essence’. Two theses about natures can be found in the literature, namely that they are noumenal in character ( noumenal thesis ) and that the…
A rule‐based account of the regulative use of reason in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
The aim of this paper is to propose a novel reading of the critical legitimacy of the regulative use of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason . After introducing some key terminology of the Dialectic, I analyse the shortcomings of two influential accounts of the regulative use of reason and identify their common problem in their commitment to the descriptivity of the ideas of reason. I then offer my rule‐based a…
The Systematic Unity of Reason and Empirical Truth in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
This paper attempts a reconstruction of reason’s contribution to empirical truth in connection with Kant’s definition of truth as the agreement of cognition with its object. I argue that Kant’s treatment of truth in the Transcendental Analytic is completed in the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic with an often neglected but compelling argument (what I shall call the Variety Argument). This argument postulates such a variety among appearanc…
The Necessity of Empirical Laws of Nature through the Lens of Kant’s Dialectic
This article analyses a sceptical challenge resulting from metaphysical approaches to the problem of the necessity of empirical laws of nature in Kant’s critical philosophy (what I shall call ‘essentialist’ readings). I argue that this challenge may jeopardize the purpose of empirical enquiry (and therefore the plausibility of essentialist readings), but that Kant has internal resources to address it in the Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reaso…
Regulative idealization
The Idea of God and the Empirical Investigation of Nature in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
This article aims to justify the positive role in the empirical investigation of nature that Kant attributes to the idea of God in the Critique of Pure Reason . In particular, I propose to read the Transcendental Ideal section and the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic together to see whether they can reciprocally illuminate each other. I argue that it is only by looking at the transcendental deduction of the ideas of reason and the resulti…
Natures, ideas, and essentialism in Kant
Despite recent essentialist approaches to Kant’s laws of nature, it is unclear whether Kant’s critical philosophy is compatible with core tenets of essentialism. In this paper, I first reconstruct Kant’s position by identifying the key metaphysical and epistemological features of his notion of ‘nature’ or ‘essence’. Two theses about natures can be found in the literature, namely that they are noumenal in character ( noumenal thesis ) and that the…
Regulative idealization
The Idea of God and the Empirical Investigation of Nature in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
This article aims to justify the positive role in the empirical investigation of nature that Kant attributes to the idea of God in the Critique of Pure Reason . In particular, I propose to read the Transcendental Ideal section and the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic together to see whether they can reciprocally illuminate each other. I argue that it is only by looking at the transcendental deduction of the ideas of reason and the resulti…
A rule‐based account of the regulative use of reason in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
The aim of this paper is to propose a novel reading of the critical legitimacy of the regulative use of reason in the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason . After introducing some key terminology of the Dialectic, I analyse the shortcomings of two influential accounts of the regulative use of reason and identify their common problem in their commitment to the descriptivity of the ideas of reason. I then offer my rule‐based a…
The Systematic Unity of Reason and Empirical Truth in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
This paper attempts a reconstruction of reason’s contribution to empirical truth in connection with Kant’s definition of truth as the agreement of cognition with its object. I argue that Kant’s treatment of truth in the Transcendental Analytic is completed in the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic with an often neglected but compelling argument (what I shall call the Variety Argument). This argument postulates such a variety among appearanc…
The Necessity of Empirical Laws of Nature through the Lens of Kant’s Dialectic
This article analyses a sceptical challenge resulting from metaphysical approaches to the problem of the necessity of empirical laws of nature in Kant’s critical philosophy (what I shall call ‘essentialist’ readings). I argue that this challenge may jeopardize the purpose of empirical enquiry (and therefore the plausibility of essentialist readings), but that Kant has internal resources to address it in the Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reaso…
Regulative idealization
Kant on phenomenal substance
In this paper, I offer a systematic account of Kant’s view on ‘phenomenal substance’. Several studies have recently analysed Kant’s notion of substance. However, I submit that more needs to be said about how this notion is reconceptualized within the critical framework to vindicate a genuine and legitimate sense of substance in the phenomenal realm. More specifically, I show that Kant’s transcendental idealism does not commit him to a rejection o…
Natures, ideas, and essentialism in Kant
Despite recent essentialist approaches to Kant’s laws of nature, it is unclear whether Kant’s critical philosophy is compatible with core tenets of essentialism. In this paper, I first reconstruct Kant’s position by identifying the key metaphysical and epistemological features of his notion of ‘nature’ or ‘essence’. Two theses about natures can be found in the literature, namely that they are noumenal in character ( noumenal thesis ) and that the…
Truth, understanding, and normativity in scientific models
Scientific models often contain assumptions known not to be true. Despite being false representations, models provide us with a key understanding of phenomena. What is more, the falsehoods that figure in models are in many cases central to them, and there is no available alternative to their use. If falsehoods play such an irreplaceable role in our understanding of phenomena, it would seem that truth is not a key concern of scientific modeling. I…
Epistemology (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (6 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (5 works) · Dialectic (4 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (4 works) · Transcendental number (3 works) · Computer Science (2 works) · Essentialism (2 works)