Johann Georg Sulzer and the Beginnings of Kant’s Doctrine of Three Faculties

This work takes up the question discussed in older research as to whether Sulzer can be regarded as the inventor of the doctrine of the three faculties and whether he gave the decisive impulse for Kant's doctrine. The publication of Herder's notes on Kant's lectures on metaphysics provides a decidedly improved textual basis for addressing this problem. They enable us to see the significance of Kant's early critique of Baumgarten's doctrine of perfection for the development of his three-part distinction of faculties.

Doctrine · Epistemology · Impulse (physics) · Metaphysics · Perfection · Physics · Theology · Historical Philosophy and Science · Kantian Philosophy and Modern Interpretations · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy