Purposiveness, transcendental ideas, andphilosophical history. Notes on the Idea for aUniversal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim, in lightof the Transcendental Dialectic of the Critique ofPure Reason

Abstract

This paper aims to point to relationship between Transcendental Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason (KrV) and Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim (IaG). Specifically, it seeks to show the theoretical and methodological foundation that the principle of purposiveness and the systematicity of reason, as presented in the KrV, offer to Kant’s philosophical conception of history in the IaG. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section presents – as problematic – the premises that, in the introduction to the IaG, Kant adopts in his philosophical investigation of history. The second section focuses on the Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic, examining the legitimate use of transcendental ideas, as well as their indeterminate objective necessity. Finally, the third section examines some propositions of the IaG, suggesting that the repercussion of the Transcendental Dialectic on the IaG allows us to understand Kant’s distinctive investigative method in philosophical history.