Baumgarten's Elements of First Practical Philosophy: A Critical Translation With Kant's Reflections on Moral Philosophy

Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb/ Fugate, Courtney D. (Editor)/ Pasternack, Lawrence (Editor)/ Fugate, Courtney D. (Translator)

ISBN 10: 1474282652 / ISBN 13: 9781474282659

Published by Bloomsbury USA Academic, 2020

About this Item

374 pages. 9.00x6.25x1.25 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1474282652

Bibliographic Details

Title: Baumgarten's Elements of First Practical ...

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Academic

Publication Date: 2020

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Brand New

About this title

Synopsis:

Introduction to First Philosophy presents the first English translation of Alexander Baumgartens Initia Philosophiae Practicae Primae, the textbook Kant used in his lectures on moral philosophy. Originally published in Latin in 1760, the Intitia, contains a systematic, but original version of the universal practical philosophy first articulated by Christian Wolff. In his personal copy, Kant penned hundreds of pages of notes and sketches that document his relation to this earlier tradition. Translating these extensive elucidations into English, together with Kants notes on the text, this translation offers a complete resource to Kants reading of the Intitia. To facilitate further study, first-time translations of elucidatory passages from G. F. Meier and Wolff are also included, alongside a German-English-Latin glossary. The translators introduction provides a biography of Baumgarten, a discussion of the importance of the Initia, its relation to Wolffs and Meiers universal practical philosophy and its role in Kants lectures. By shedding new light on the arguments of Kants mature works and offering insights into his pre-Critical moral thought, Introduction to First Philosophy reveals why Baumgarten's work is essential for understanding the background to Kants philosophy.

About the Author:

Alexander Baumgarten was born in Berlin on 17 June 1714 to Jacob Baumgarten, a Protestant evangelical preacher, and Rosina Elizabeth, née Wiedemannin. After being raised in the pietistic communities of Berlin and later Halle, Baumgarten was among the first to teach the controversial philosophy of Christian Wolff (1769-1764). By order of the king, he moved to Frankfurt on the Order in 1739, where he remained until his death in 1762. While at Frankfurt, Baumgarten wrote his most influential philosophical works: Metaphysics (1739), Philosophical Ethics (1740), and Aesthetics (2 Vols, 1750 & 1757). It is as formulated in these works that the Leibniz-Wolff tradition was chiefly communicated to later German philosophers, including Immanuel Kant. Today Baumgarten is also regarded as a central founder of modern aesthetics.