Spalding e Kant. Illuminismo e criticismo a confronto

This essay offers a complete reconstruction of the biographical and intellectual connections between Johann Joachim Spalding and Immanuel Kant. First, it provides a biographical sketch aimed at reconstructing the indirect contacts and the direct epistolary exchange; second, it deals with reciprocal philosophical influence. The result is surprising: not only does Spalding owe very much to Kant, particular his ethical works, for the eleventh edition (1794) of his bestseller "Die Bestimmung des Menschen"; also, and most importantly, Kant owes a great deal to Spalding for his own thinking about the "Bestimmung des Menschen", which is a key idea for both Kant's critical system and his philosophy of history.