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Helmholtz's Kant revisited (Once more). The all-pervasive nature of Helmholtz's struggle with Kant's Anschauung
Abstract
In this analysis, the classical problem of Hermann von Helmholtz's (1821-1894) Kantianism is explored from a particular vantage point, that to my knowledge, has not received the attention it deserves notwithstanding its possible key role in disentangling Helmholtz's relation to Kant's critical project. More particularly, we will focus on Helmholtz's critical engagement with Kant's concept of intuition [Anschauung] and (the related issue of) his dissatisfaction with Kant's doctrinal dualism. In doing so, it soon becomes clear that both (i) crucially mediated Helmholtz's idiosyncratic appropriation and criticism of (certain aspects of) Kant's critical project, and (ii) can be considered as a common denominator in a variety of issues that are usually addressed separately under the general header of (the problem of) Helmholtz's Kantianism. The perspective offered in this analysis can not only shed interesting new light on some interpretive issues that have become commonplace in discussions on Helmholtz's Kantianism, but also offers a particular way of connecting seemingly unrelated dimensions of Helmholtz's engagement with Kant's critical project (e.g. Helmholtz's views on causality and space). Furthermore, it amounts to the rather surprising conclusion that Helmholtz's most drastic revision of Kant's project pertains to his assumption of free will as a formal condition of experience and knowledge.
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“In brief, IWMT proposes that Kant's preconditions for judgment are also necessary preconditions for consciousness (Northoff, 2012; De Kock, 2016).”
From An Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) of Consciousness (2020) · cites this paper as De Kock, 2016
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Research works printed but not linked: 21
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Cited by
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Safron, A. (2020) · Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.3389/frai.2020.00030 · Cited by 133
“This integration of action with perception is likely crucial for agentic planning and the counterfactual simulations upon which it is based (Hassabis and Maguire, 2009; MacKay, 2019), without which the development of coherent world models may be impossible (De Kock, 2016; Friston, 2017).”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- De Kock, L.
- Venue
- Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 56
- Pages
- 20-32
- ISSN
- 0039-3681 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2176213882
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 7.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Flanders Research Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Kantian Philosophy and Modern Interpretations
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Logic and Philosophy of Science
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Keywords
- Hermann von Helmholtz, Kantian ethics, intuition, dualism, causality, space, free will, philosophy of science, reception of Kant
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Metaphysics, Perception, Intuition, History, 19th Century
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- De Kock, L. (2016). Helmholtz's Kant revisited (Once more). The all-pervasive nature of Helmholtz's struggle with Kant's Anschauung. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2015.10.009
