BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

just mentioned different questions were asked, which meant that they
were looking for different kinds of answer. Consequently, in order to
come up with a fair evaluation of whether or not an author succeeds in a
certain text, it is necessary to know which discipline he associated himself
with when he was writing it.
It is not always easy to decide within which context Kant is operating
when he discusses the mind-body relation. He discusses this relation in
texts dealing with topics as varied as cosmology, medicine, 12
epistemology, anthropology, pedagogy and logic. There is evidence,
however, that at an early stage he adopted an agnostic attitude towards
the mind-body problem in its ontological form. I shall return to this later.
1.3 Some preliminary remarks on Kant’s intellectual development
In the secondary literature surrounding the Kantian corpus the claim is
often advanced that Kant’s intellectual development may be divided into
more or less distinct phases. Even if there is no general agreement on the
number and nature of these phases, the idea of a threefold structure is
often suggested. First, we have a pre-critical phase which includes his
early years. Then we have his critical phase, the years that saw the
publication of the three Critiques. Finally, there is his later years, when
he was struggling to develop a new or revised philosophical outlook, as
evidenced by the notes compiled and published in what is now known as
his Opus postumum.
As for Kant’s pre-critical phase, it has been argued that it too may be
divided into phases. According to Ameriks, Kant began as an empiricist,
turned toward rationalism in 1756, shifted to a skeptical position in 1766,
and finally adopted a quasi-critical point of view after 1768. 13
Beiser in
his study of Kant’s early intellectual development identifies four phases as
well but they are different from Ameriks’. 14
According to Beiser, Kant
was initially infatuated with metaphysics, then became disillusioned in
1760, partially reconciled himself with metaphysics in 1766, and finally
liberated himself from metaphysical concerns in 1772.
Just as there is no agreement on how best to divide Kant’s intellectual
development into phases, so there are various answers to the question of
how his projects and their aims are best described. In part two in this
work I will briefly look at some interpretations of the Critique. Where his
12
In Maladies of the mind.
13
Ameriks (2000), 11ff.
14
Beiser (1992).
THE EMBODIED MIND
17