A system of “higher idealism”, of “preformation”, or of the “epigenesis of pure reason”? Kant’s response to the first review of the KrV and to Schultz’s review of Ulrich’s Institutiones logicae

This paper reconstructs a short story in the troubled reception process of transcendental idealism. As is well known, some interpreted it as a radical form of idealism, not very different from that proposed by Berkeley, while others found a substantial similarity with the Leibnizian doctrine of pre-established harmony. Through the reconstruction of a polyphonic debate, it will be argued that Kant considered these problems resolved with the second edition of the Deduction of the Categories, where he describes transcendental philosophy as an epigenetic system. It will thus be shown the relevance of the review as a tool for philosophical discussion in the eighteenth century, highlighting the influence that two reviews had in the history of the Deduction.