This study presents the historical impact of Kant's Opus postumum, the philosopher's last unfinished work, in a critical discussion that extends from the time of the work's initial reception in the 19th century up to contemporary Kant research. The common thread that unites this study is a systematic historical reconstruction of the disputes between those interpreters who saw this work as a major departure on the part of the late Kant from the philosophy of his critical writings, and others who saw this posthumously published work as coherently evolving from Kant's earlier...

This work argues that teleological motives lie at the heart of Kant's critical philosophy and that a precise analysis of teleological structures can both illuminate the basic strategy of its fundamental arguments and provide a key to understanding its unity. It thus aims, through an examination of each of Kant's major writings, to provide a detailed interpretation of his claim that philosophy in the true sense must consist of a teleologia rationis humanae.
The author argues that Kant's critical philosophy forged a new link between traditional teleological concepts and the...