2014 Issue №3(49)

This essay concerns an unusual note of Kant’s that has been available in Hamburg since the 1920s but otherwise neglected in the Kant literature. This small 8 x 6.3 cm sheet belonged to the manuscript collector Oskar Ulex (1852—1934), who appears to have bought it from a dealer in France. Writing covers both sides of the sheet, with moral theology discussed on one side, and the cosmological proof on the other. A transcription and description of the sheet is provided, followedby a “Question & Answer” with the goal of dating the notes describing the two separate arguments for the existence of God. The use of the expressions ‘Moraltheologie’ (moral theology) and ‘Endzweck’ (final purpose), as well as the discussion of ‘an object of the moral will’ — all of which touchupon a central point of Kant’s developing moral philosophy — show that the text on both sides of the sheet could not have been written before the last third of the 1780s. Finally, it will be shown that the term ‘moraltheologie’, and the positive connection between moral philosophy and theologycontained in it, is a relatively late innovation in the Kantian corpus. A central reflection bearing on this point, R 4582 (AA, XVII, S. 601), will also be used to clarify several features of Erich Adickes’s methodology in preparing the Nachlaß volumes of the Kant-Ausgabe published by the former Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The article provides, for the first time in the philosophical literature, a general description of the Konigsberg Kant studies as a special local direction in the history of philosophy. Core activities in this direction formed the Society of Kant’s Friends, as well as "archival Kant studies" — the work of collecting, annotating and publishing the manuscript heritage, correspondence and lecture notes Kant. Given the large volume of primary and secondary sources, we propose a variant ofspecification of structure of Kant Studies in Königsberg — four lines of activity: popularization; biographical research and publications; collection and publication of manuskript heritage and conspects of lectures; the interpretation and reception of Kant's ideas. Detailed presented is the history of the first line — popularization of Kants philosophy. The activities of K. Rosenkranz and Society of Kant’s Friends, as well as history of creation of books of J. Schulz and K. Stavenhagen, articles,reports and brochures of R. Brückmann and O. Schöndörffer are described, their content is characterized. There are formulated some conclusions about the main value of this work for Kant studies, for the birth and development of the Kantianism, about the relationship of popularization with otherlines of Kant studies in Königsberg, about cooperation of Königsberg researchers of Kant's life and philosophy with each other, and about continuity in their work. It is shown that the popularization work in all its forms has been conducted to date and the first to the last years of this trend, has played a major role in the emergence and development of other lines of activity. An author's translation of a number of fragments of the above publications. The prospects of the development of indepth and detailed analysis of the described compositions, for which this article can serve as a reference point.