The article adumbrates the opposition between Aristotelian “metaphysical” meaning of the concept of substance and its critical relational meaning, strongly accentuated by the Marburg Neokantian School. Th is opposition was creatively developed by the aforementioned School. It starts with a critique of Aristotle and his concept of the “substance as being in itself” and proceeds to demonstrate with the reference to the Kantian transcendentalism that concept of the “substance as function” is one of the a priori rules of synthetic cognition. In the Marburg School, the history of the development of these two meanings takes the form of a history of two opposing directions of the thought: dogmatic philosophy – leaning toward the former meaning, and critical – based on the latter.
Keywords: substance · synthesis a priori · Kant · Aristotle · Marburg School · Cassirer
Przemysław Parszutowicz — Professor at Department of History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences. His current research interests include history and theory of transcendental philosophy. Author of books: Filozofia jako krytyka poznania. Wprowadzenie do transcendentalizmu Ernsta Cassirera [Philosophy as Critique of knowledge. Introduction to Ernst Cassirer's Transcendentalism] (Warsaw 2013); Fenomenologia form symbolicznych. Podstawowe pojecia i inspiracje „późnej” filozofii Ernsta Cassirera [Phenomenology of Symbolic Forms. Basic Concepts and Inspirations of Ernst Cassirer's „late” Philosophy] (Warsaw 2013).
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