Logic and Method in Kantian works from 1760-1766

• Grant number: 24/09168-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Paulo Garrido Pimenta
• Grantee: Pedro Casalotti Farhat
• Supervisor: Gabriele Gava
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO), Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/03890-6 - Logic, method and metaphysics in Kantian Philosophy between 1760 and 1770, BP.DR

Abstract

The project proposes an investigation of the relationship between logic and method in Kant's pre-critical works from 1760 to 1766. While this relationship is more widely recognized in Kant's critical work, particularly in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787), his earlier works also addressed logical questions related to metaphysics and its method. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore this trend in detail. Rather than viewing the Critique as an inevitable conclusion, the pre-critical texts will be examined on their own terms and in the context of the German philosophical tradition, as well as other European authors referenced by Kant. Understanding the pre-critical conception of logic requires following Kant's ideas on method, which originally belonged to logic but proved fundamental to metaphysics. Despite their seemingly formal nature, both logic and methodology involve metaphysical assumptions that Kant discusses throughout the pre-critical period. This necessitates a new vocabulary and a reconsideration of the status of philosophical investigation, leading to a new style of philosophical exposition and a broader conception of method. This method is not merely a set of rules to follow but a "way of thinking" that includes procedures such as observation, analogy, explanation, analysis, description, and even conjecture.