Reinhold's Letters on the Kantian Philosophy is arguably the most influential book ever written concerning Kant. It provides a helpful introduction to Kant's philosophy and a valuable explanation of how that philosophy can be understood as an appropriate Enlightenment solution to the 'pantheism dispute' which dominated thought in the era of German Idealism. The first edition of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason was slow in gaining a positive reception, but after Reinhold's Letters appeared Kant's Critical Philosophy suddenly attained the central position which it has held to this day. The Letters also brought fame to Reinhold, who developed his own influential 'Elementary Philosophy' and was succeeded by the leading figures of German Idealism: Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. This English edition of Reinhold's work includes the original 1786-7 version as well as all the major additions and changes from the 1790 edition.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The need for a Critique of Reason; 2. The result of the Kantian philosophy on the question of God's existence; 3. The result of the Critique of Reason concerning the necessary connection between morality and religion; 4. On the elements and the previous course of conviction in the basic truths of religion; 5. The result of the Critique of Reason concerning the future life; 6. Continuation of the preceding letter: the united interests of religion and morality in the clearing away of the metaphysical ground for cognition of a future life; 7. A sketch of a history of reason's psychological concept of a simple thinking substance; 8. Continuation of the preceding letter: the master key to the rational psychology of the Greeks; Appendix: the major additions in the 1790 edition.

Author Biography

Karl Ameriks is the McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is co-editor with Desmond Clark of the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy series. James C. Hebbeler is a graduate student in the Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame. His areas of interest include Kant, Post-Kantian German Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, Phenomenology.