Essays on the History of Modern German Philosophy: Kyiv, Tsentr navchalnoyi literatury, 2006, 572 p.

The textbook highlights the key features of the doctrines of German philosophers of the Modern period. In particular, the philosophical system of Leibniz, the philosophy of law and philosophy of religion of Kant, Fichte's ethics, the philosophy of nature and aesthetic dialectic of Schelling, the doctrine of ‘removal’ in the historical and philosophical process, the dialogical nature of philosophical truth of Feuerbach, etc. are analysed in detail. Particular attention is paid to the problem of the internal unity of the philosopher's personality and his doctrine. Kushakov refutes a number of stereotypes that were widespread in Soviet times in assessing the ideas of German philosophers. The ambitious goal of the author of the textbook is not only to describe the philosophical systems of thinkers, which is typical for publications of this type, but also to attempt to reactualise the key ideas of these philosophies.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction. Peculiarities of the German philosophical spirit

Part I. Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Essay 1. Gottfried Leibniz

Essay 2: Christian Wolff

Part II. German classical philosophy

Essay 1. The concept of ‘German classical philosophy’

Historical significance

Social and historical background of the formation

Sources of ideas

Unity and contradiction

Essay 2: Immanuel Kant

Man and thinker

The ‘pre-critical’ period

The system of ‘critical idealism’

Revolution in philosophy

Theory of knowledge

Practical philosophy

Applied practical philosophy

§ 1. Philosophy of religion

§ 2. Philosophy of Law

§ 3. Philosophy of history

Critique of Judgment (aesthetics and teleology)

The idea of the history of philosophy as a science

Some conclusions

Appendix. The concept of ‘thing in itself’

Essay 3: Johann Gottlieb Fichte (Genesis of the doctrine and difficulties and misconceptions in its understanding)

From Kant to Fichte

§ 1. Carl Leonhard Reinhold – systematiser and populariser of Kantian philosophy. ‘Elementary Philosophy’

§ 2. Gottlob Ernst Schulze's ‘New Scepticism’

§ 3. ‘Critical scepticism’ by Salomon Maimon

§ 4. ‘The Doctrine of the Point of View by Jakob Sigismund Beck

The personality of Fichte

Fichte's epoch

The initial intuition. The tasks of philosophy

Essay 4. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

Natural philosophy

Is a philosophy of nature possible today?

Dialectic as a logical and aesthetic phenomenon

Essay 5. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

The source and mystery of Hegel's philosophy. ‘Phenomenology of Spirit’

On the criticism of Hegel's methodology (Application of dialectic as a problem)

On the critique of Hegel's conception of the relation between philosophy and history of philosophy

Essay 6. Ludwig Feuerbach

Wozu Ludwig Feuerbach?

Feuerbach as a historian of philosophy:

§ 1. The theory of the historical and philosophical process

§ 2. Methodology of historical and philosophical research

§ 3. Analysis of the philosophical doctrines of Descartes and Spinoza

§ 4. Presentation, development and criticism of Leibniz's philosophy

Appendix. Feuerbach

Essay 7. Karl Marx and the end of classical German philosophy

Methodological principles of analysis and evaluation of Marx's worldview

The personality of Marx

The contradictions of the worldview

Part III. Lev Shestov and the ‘’after‘’ of classical German philosophy

Essay 1. Contrasts of thinking: Aristotle, Hegel and Shestov

Essay 2. The historical and philosophical project of Lev Shestov. Historian of philosophy or ‘Fan of spiritual hooliganism’?

Lessons from L. Shestov

Appendix. Historical and philosophical projects of the XX century: results, problems, prospects

Afterword