Kant and the Debate on Aristotle’s Categories in the Nineteenth Century

The debate about Aristotle’s categories in the 19th century is largely a reaction to Kant’s criticisms of the Aristotelian theory of categories. Scholars tried both to interpret Aristotle’s texts and to defend the Stagirite from the accusation of collecting the categories in a rhapsodic way. Starting from this well-known historiographical assumption, I aim to show that Kant not only criticized but also provided an interpretation of the Aristotelian theory of categories and that the interpretations of nineteenth-century scholars (Trendelenburg, Bonitz, Brentano, Apelt, and others), while intending to respond to Kant, move largely within the conceptual framework outlined by Kant, contain Kantian elements or develop hints provided by Kant.