Philosophical Encyclopedia Notes

Kant taught a course on the so-called “Philosophical Encyclopedia” a total of ten semesters, beginning with SS 1767 and ending with WS 1781/82.  We have mention of three sets of notes, but only an-Friedländer 4.1 is still available.  See the Encyclopedia lectures.

The Philosophical Encyclopedia Notes [top]

Abbreviations: A: availability [‡ = the set of notes (either as manuscript or in printed form) appears to be complete, + = a large fragment of the original text is still available, - = only a small fragment of the original text is available, (no sign) = none of the original text is available], * = only part of the available text was printed, Ak. = Akademie-Ausgabe, an = anonymous, Kön = Königsberg, NA () = not available (last known location), rpt. = reprint of, var = published as a variant reading.

Bibliography: Lehmann 1961: Gerhard Lehmann, ed., Vorlusungen über Enzyklopädie und Logik, Bd. 1: Vorlesungen über Philosophische Enzyklopädie (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1961). [This is not a volume of the Akademie-Ausgabe.]

(1) anonymous-Friedländer 4.1 [top]

Other Names

Philosophische Enzyklopädie [Lehmann 1980].

Physical Description and History

Bound quarto volume, 840 pp. Title on the spine: “Phylosophische Encycopädie aus den Vorlesungen von I. Kant”. The volume contains four texts: (1) philosophical encyclopedia notes (an-Friedländer 4.1), (2) a nine-page student essay originating from one of Kant’s metaphysics lectures, (3) anthropology notes (an-Friedländer 4.3), and (4) physics notes (an-Friedländer 4.4). Each manuscript is paginated separately.

There is no separate title-page for the notes, which begin: “Philosophische-Encyclopedie / oder / ein kurtzer Inbegrif aller philosophischen / Wißenschaften / aus den Vorlesungen / des / Herrn Profeßoris Immanuel Kant”.

David Joachim Friedländer [bio], owned lecture notes on anthropology (two sets), physical geography, moral philosophy, and physics, apart from the notes on philosophical encyclopedia, which comprise the first 144 pages of a volume containing four distinct works.  Second in the volume (an-Friedländer 4.2) is a nine-page student essay originating from one of Kant’s metaphysics lectures.[1]  Third in the volume is the 840 page set of anthropology notes (an-Friedländer 4.3).  Fourth is the 52 page set of notes on physics (an-Friedländer 4.4).  [Lehmann 1980; Ak. 29:663]

[1] Richter [1974, 65] identifies this fragment as coming from Kant’s logic lectures (as does Kuehn [1983)]), and counts eight sheets.  It is in fact a 9 page untitled student essay, prepared in conjunction with Kant’s metaphysics lectures — specifically, §§7-18 (on possibility) of Baumgarten’s Metaphysics.  The manuscript contains four marginalia written in Kant’s hand, and the student essay along with Kant’s marginalia are printed at Ak. 17: 262-69.

Location

(1) Ms: Berlin, SBPK, Haus II [Ms. germ. quart. 400.1].

(2) Film: Marburg Kant-Archiv [Film 25].

Publications

(1) Lehmann [1961, 31-68].

(2) Lehmann [1980; Ak. 29: 5-45].  Corresponds to Ms. 3-144.

Dating

Kant lectured on this topic ten times, beginning with WS 1767/68 and ending WS 1781/82.  Kuehn [1983] argues for 1775 as the date of the note’s source lecture.[1]  Stark [1985b, 631] reports a reference in the notes (Ak. 29: 26) to a Berlin Academy prize essay question — “On whether the government should deceive the people for their own good” — that was announced in November 1777 (with the prize awarded in 1780) [see]; this suggests a dating no earlier than WS 1777/78.

This could be the set of notes that Kant delivered to Herz at the end of 1778 (see Kant’s letter to Herz of 15 December 1778).  Kant would have lectured the previous winter semester, and says in his letter that it was difficult to procure the notes, and that he lacked the time to read through, much less correct or amplify, them.  In his letter to Herz the following month (January 1779), Kant expressed dismay at the poor material in the manuscript.

[1] In brief, Kuehn argues that the note’s content limits the possible semesters to 1775, 1777/78, 1779/80, or 1781/82.  The last date was favored by Lehmann [1961], but for faulty reasons that Kuehn and Tonelli [1962, 513] make plain.  Kuehn also notes that the lectures must have pre-dated Kant’s exposure to Tetens (at the latest, early spring of 1778).  Because these notes are bound together with three other manuscripts (two other sets of notes from Kant’s lectures — on anthropology and on physics — as well as a short student essay that bears marginalia in Kant’s hand), Kuehn also makes use of clues in these other manuscripts, such as the mention of “Basedow’s institute” in the anthropology notes (this reference would have likely pre-dated Basedow’s resignation from the Philanthropinum in 1776).  This evidence, however, is not decisive; it isn’t even suggestive of much.  The anthropology notes have since been dated to WS 1775/76, but they could still have been bound with notes stemming from lectures given many years before or after that semester.

Contents

The notes are based on the textbook: Johann Georg Heinrich Feder, Grundriß der Philosophischen Wissenschaften nebst der nöthigen Geschichte, zum Gebrauche seiner Zuhörer [Coburg: Findeisen, 1767, ²1769].  Kant used Feder in 1767/8, 1768/9, 1769, 1770/71, 1775, 1777/78, 1779/80, and 1781/82.  The topics covered include: Systems vs aggregates/kinds of knowledge [Ms 3-9];  nature and brief history of philosophy [Ms 9-28]; on genius [Ms 29-31]; logic in general [Ms 31-33]; innate ideas [Ms 34-42]; concepts [Ms 43-50]; judgments [Ms 50-52]; inference [Ms 52-4]; nature of truth [Ms 54-57]; means for arriving at truth [Ms 57-69]; prejudice [Ms 70-84]; learning and thinking [Ms 85-93]; history of logic [Ms 93-100]; metaphysics [Ms 100-34]; monads [Ms 135-41]; empirical psychology [Ms. 141-4].

Wundt [1924, 163] rightly suggests that, for the survey of the history of philosophy, Kant would have relied on Jakob Brucker’s Historia critica philosophiae, 2nd ed. [1766-67]. A useful background on Brucker’s history and Kant’s knowledge of it can be found in Fistioc [2002].

(2) anonymous-Hippel 2 [top]

See an-Hippel 1 (anthropology).

(3) anonymous-Pillau 2 [top]

Physical Description and History

Bound quarto volume.  On the spine: “Kunowsky, logicalischer Katechismus.  Auch einige Bemerkungen über phyisische Geographie.”  The first part of this volume is a handwritten copy of a book by G. S. Kunowsky [Berlin: Gottlieb August Lange, 1775].  At the top of the first page (?) of the second part of this volume: “II. Teil.  Prolegomena Phylosophiae.”  This part consists of three chapters, consisting of 15, 8, and 8 sheets, respectively: (a) Prolegomena Logices, (b) Prolegomena Psychologiae, and (c) Kurze Darstellung der Praktischen Philosophie.  A third part contains notes on physical geography [Vaihinger 1899, 253-55]. 

See the related notes on anthropology and physical geography, discussed at an-Pillau 1 (anthropology). All three volumes were located together and reported by Vaihinger; the two other volumes (anthropology and physical geography) are now in Berlin.

Location

(1) Ms: Pillau, Realprogymnasium.  Lost.