Is Metaphysics the only Discipline that Can Be Complete? The Completeness of Metaphysics in Kant and Wolff

• Picas Prats, Bruna ^[1] ; Jakušić, Dino ^[2]
  1. [1] Universitat de Barcelona

     Universitat de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] University of Warwick

     University of Warwick

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Con-textos Kantianos: International Journal of Philosophy, ISSN-e 2386-7655, Vol. 22, 2025, págs. 25-38
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.5209/kant.104345
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • The aim of this article is twofold. First, against Marcus Willaschek’s statement that Kant’s systematicity of metaphysics is shared with the other sciences, it examines Kant’s assertion that metaphysics is the only discipline capable of achieving completeness. Second, this article explores the continuity between Kant and Wolff regarding the inquiry about what criterion of completeness is suitable for metaphysics as a system. To this end, we address two central questions: what does it mean for metaphysics to be ‘complete’? Is there something special about the completeness of metaphysics that is not shared by other sciences? We will identify two kinds of completeness, which we refer to as ‘unconditioned completeness’ and ‘comprehensiveness’ and demonstrate the continuity in how Kant and Wolff understand these terms. Furthermore, we will demonstrate that both Kant and Wolff argue that unconditioned completeness is unique to metaphysics. Finally, we will discuss why, despite these similarities, Kant would still be dissatisfied with Wolff’s conception of metaphysical completeness.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • de Boer, K. (2020), Kant’s Reform of Metaphysics: the Critique of Pure Reason Reconsidered, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • de Boer, K. (2015), “The Vicissitudes of Metaphysics in Kant and Early Post-Kantian Philosophy” in Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, vol. 71...
  • Dyck, C.W. (2016) “The Priority of Judging: Kant on Wolff’s General Logic”, Estudos Kantianos, vol. 4 (02), pp. 99–118
  • Kant, I. (1998), Critique of Pure Reason (A1781-B1787), P. Guyer and A.W. Wood (trans. & eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Kant, I. (1992a) “A New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Cognition”, D. Walford and R. Meerbote (trans. & eds.), Kant...
  • Kant, I. (1992b), Lectures on Logic, J.M. Young (tran. & ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511810039.
  • Kant, I. (1992c) “The Only Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of God (1763)”, D. Walford and R. Meerbote (trans....
  • Leibniz, G.W. (1976), “Meditations on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas, 1684”, L.E. Loemker (trans.) Philosophical Papers and Letters, Dordrecht:...
  • Meier, G.F. (2016), Excerpt from the Doctrine of Reason, A. Bunch (trans.), Bloomsbury Academic, London.
  • Willaschek, M. (2018), Kant on the Sources of Metaphysics: The Dialectic of Pure Reason, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Willaschek, M., Stolzenberg, J., Mohr, G., Bacin, S (eds.) (2021), Kant-Lexikon, De Gruyter, Berlin.
  • Wuerth, J. (ed.) (2021), The Cambridge Kant Lexicon, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Wolff, C. (1963), Preliminary Discourse on Philosophy in General, R.J. Blackwell (tran.), The Bobbs-Merrill Company Inc, Indianapolis.
  • Wolff, C. (1742), Vernünfftige Gedancken von den Kräfften des menschlichen Verstandes & ihrem richtigen Gebrauche in Erkäntnis der Wahrheit,...
  • Wolff, C. (1735), Philosophia rationalis sive Logica methodo scientifica pertractata, et ad usum scientiarum atque vitæ aptata, Dionysius...
  • Wolff, C. (1733), Christian Wolffens Ausführliche Nachricht von seinen eigenen Schriften, die er in deutscher Sprache von den verschiedenen...
  • Wolff, C. (1730), Philosophia Prima, sive Ontologia, methodo scientifica pertractata, qua omnis cognitionis humanæ principia continentur,...
  • Wolff, C. (1729a), “De differentia intellectus systematici & non systematici”, Horæ subsecivæ Marburgenses anni MDCCXXIX, quibus philosophia...
  • Wolff, C. (1729b), “De notionibus directribus & genuino usu philosophiæ primæ”, Horæ subsecivæ Marburgenses anni MDCCXXIX, quibus philosophia...
  • Wolff, C. (1720), Vernünfftige Gedancken von Gott, der Welt und der Seele des Menschen, auch allen Dingen überhaupt den Liebhabern der Wahrheit...