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    Carmelics

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    Alexander Baumgarten — Carmelics
    Thinkers/Alexander Baumgarten
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    Alexander Baumgarten

    modernGerman Rationalism

    1714 – 1762

    Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten was an 18th-century German philosopher who founded aesthetics as a distinct philosophical discipline. A follower of Leibniz and Wolff, he systematized rationalist metaphysics and coined the term 'aesthetica' to describe the science of sensory knowledge and beauty.

    WWikipediaSEPStanford Encyclopedia

    Notable Achievements

    1

    Founded aesthetics as a philosophical discipline and coined the term 'aesthetica'

    2

    Authored Aesthetica (1750-1758), the first systematic treatise on the philosophy of art and beauty

    3

    Wrote Metaphysica (1739), an influential textbook used by Immanuel Kant in his lectures

    4

    Developed the Leibniz-Wolffian rationalist system and refined its metaphysical vocabulary

    5

    Introduced the distinction between clear/confused and distinct/adequate perceptions in aesthetic theory

    Positions & Arguments(3)

    Perception

    claim

    Allison's premise (6) is too weak to be a plausible reconstruction of Kant's non-spatiality thesis

    Modality & Possibility

    claim

    Allison's premise (6) is too weak to be a plausible reconstruction of Kant's non-spatiality thesis

    Natural Theology

    claim

    We can rationally believe both ourselves and God to be mental in nature from a practical point of view.

    Truth & Knowledge

    claim

    We can rationally believe both ourselves and God to be mental in nature from a practical point of view.

    claim

    Shakespeare was doing fundamentally the same thing as Sophocles despite producing superficially different drama.

    Aesthetics

    claim

    Shakespeare was doing fundamentally the same thing as Sophocles despite producing superficially different drama.

    At a Glance

    Ideas

    3

    Topics

    5

    Era

    modern

    Tradition

    German Rationalism

    Topic Influence

    Truth & Knowledge2
    Modality & Possibility1
    Perception1
    Natural Theology1
    Aesthetics1

    Related Thinkers

    Immanuel Kant5 sharedAristotle5 sharedDavid Hume5 sharedPlato5 sharedBaruch Spinoza5 sharedAlexander Gottlieb Baumgarten5 sharedBertrand Russell

    Dive Deeper

    Explore Truth & Knowledge→See Modality & Possibility→
    4 shared
    René Descartes4 shared