Magdalena Aebi (4 February 1898, Burgdoft – 12 September 1980, Oberburg) was a Swiss philosopher known for her fundamental criticism of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

Life

Magdalena Aebi was born on 4 February 1898 in Burgdoft into the family of Hans Aebi and Marie A. Nubile. After attending high school in Burgdorf she studied classical philology, art history and archeology in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, as well as philosophy with

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( ; ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In 1943 she obtained her doctorate with a critical thesis on Immanuel Kant soughting to refute fundamental Kantian arguments related to

transcendental logic The ''Critique of Pure Reason'' (; 1781; second edition 1787) is a book by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in which the author seeks to determine the limits and scope of metaphysics. Also referred to as Kant's "First Critique", it was foll ...

. In 1947 on the basis of her dissertation Aebi published a book ''Kants Begründung der "Deutschen Philosophie"'' with detailed critique of the logical foundations of Immanuel Kant's ''Critique of Pure Reason,'' in particular of his transcendental logic. Aebi was in correspondence with Dutch philosopher

Evert Willem Beth Evert Willem Beth (7 July 1908 – 12 April 1964) was a Dutch philosopher and logician, whose work principally concerned the foundations of mathematics. He was a member of the Significs Group. Biography Beth was born in Almelo, a small to ...

who disclosed his basic intentions as a thinker in his letters to Aebi. Aebi lived in a hotel in Zurich, Freiburg and finally in Oberburg. She died in Oberburg on 12 September 1980.

Critique of Immanuel Kant

In her book ''Kants Begründung der "Deutschen Philosophie." Kants transzendentale Logik, Kritik ihrer Begründung'' Aebi fundamentally criticizes Kant's transcendental deduction of the pure concepts of understanding in ''

The Critique of Pure Reason The ''Critique of Pure Reason'' (; 1781; second edition 1787) is a book by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in which the author seeks to determine the limits and scope of metaphysics. Also referred to as Kant's "First Critique", it was foll ...

''. Aebi attempts to prove that the entire Kant's text is unclear, incoherent and contradictory. She constituted quaternio terminorum – the fallacy of four terms – as his main error appearing in two different meanings of transcendental

apperception Apperception (from the Latin ''ad-'', "to, toward" and ''percipere'', "to perceive, gain, secure, learn, or feel") is any of several aspects of perception and consciousness in such fields as psychology, philosophy and epistemology. Meaning in phil ...

in the middle term of

syllogism A syllogism (, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true. In its earliest form (defin ...

. According to Aebi Kant's philosophy proclaims "an immense power of the ego” and this idea has determined his successors. Therefore, German philosophy since Kant has been subjectivist with its basic principle of “I” as the subject.

Publications

* 1945 - ''Beiträge zur Kritik der transzendentalen Logik Kants''. * 1947 - ''Kants Begründung der "Deutschen Philosophie." Kants transzendentale Logik, Kritik ihrer Begründung.'' *1948 - ''Kant fondateur de la philosophie subjectiviste allemande.'' *1953 - ''Système naturel des sciences d'après l'architectonique de l'être et de sa cognoscibilité: Topologie générale des problèmes.'' *1953-1954 - ''Critique de la construction marxiste et hégélienne de l'histoire.'' *1954 - ''L'homme et l'histoire.'' *1955 ''- Der Mensch in der Einheit des Seins.'' *1956 - ''Italienreise Mai/Juni 1955.'' *1956 - ''Integration von Spezialwissenschaften und Philosophie zu einer Ganzheit (natuerl. System d. Wiss.).'' *1957 - ''Integration von Spezialwissenschaften und Philosophie zu einer Ganzheit : natuerliches System der Wissenschaften.'' *1958 - ''Mensch und Natur: methodologische Betrachtungen zum Thema.'' *1960 - ''Die Stellung von Gonseths "offener Philosophie" im Ganzen der Philosophie Perennis.'' *1963 - ''Versunkene Paradiese oder Die Kunst der Gärten.'' *1967 ''- Aus Italien.'' *1973 ''- Die Struktur der Dialektik.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aebi, Magdalena People from Bern 20th-century Swiss women scientists 1898 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Swiss philosophers