Kant e la 'scuola di Gottinga'. Alcune note a margine della 'tesi Lenoir'

Abstract

The paper focuses on the reception of Kant’s philosophy of biology in the context of the so-called ‘Gottingen School’. Timothy Lenoir has tried to rehabilitate the framework elaborated at Gottingen by stressing its difference from Naturphilosophie . Focusing on the work of Karl Friedrich Kielmeyer this paper argues that Lenoir’s position is based on a historiographical bias. I take into account Kielmeyer’s stance on physiology, embryology and natural history. This analysis reveals the existence of a clear shift from a regulative to a constitutive understanding of teleology. I agree with Zammito that the ‘Lenoir thesis’ should be overcome in favor of  a more accurate narrative of the emergence of biology in Germany at the turn of the nineteenth century.