KARL REINHOLD, ELEMENTARPHILOSOPIE AND SYSTEMATICITY

Abstract

The following essay examines the role of Karl Leonhard Reinhold in Tthe crystallization of post-Kantian idealism philosophy. Although a little-known philosophical figure and seemingly underappreciated, the apostate Roman Catholic priest is an influential thinker in post-Kantian German idealism. He serves as the bridge between Kant and the later and subsequent philosophical discussion. He shapes the nature post-Kantain German idealism would assume. Although initially skeptical of Kant's critical project upon his arrival in Germany from his native Austria and joined the Weimar circle, Reinhold later converted to the critical theory, even as he had his reservations about the physical delivery of Kant's theory. Worried that Kant's theory was not comprehended by the general public, Reinhold set out to explicate Kant's system to the world a task that conferred the realization that the systamaticity promised by Kant was no-where present in the theory that he presented to the public. As far he was concerned that systematicity was presupposed by his monistic approach to philosophy. In particular, Reinhold offers to ground philosophy on the principle of principle of consciousness and formulates it as follows: “Representation is that which is distinguished in consciousness by the subject from the subject and the object and is referred to both.” In this way, Reinhold's contribution seeks to return Kant to a Cartesian model of mind. Reinhold named his original philosophical insight the Elementarphilosophie. Although Reinhold continues to insist that his theory is a variant of Kantianism, the author maintains that as an original philosophical insight, Reinhold's position is distinctive and should therefore be evaluated on its own merit.