Baumgarten, Kant, and the Refutation of Idealism

This chapter points to the influence of Baumgarten’s Metaphysics on Kant’s transcendental philosophy. By comparing Kant’s refutation of idealism, including modifications to it suggested by notes written after the Critique of Pure Reason, with passages in the Metaphysics, Guyer shows that Kant clearly adopts Baumgarten’s own peculiar definition of idealism and develops the thesis that Baumgarten’s discussion of real interaction suggested to Kant the underlying strategy of his own refutation.