Harmonics and the ground of representations. Kant on a musical metaphor from Eberhard. A brief commentary

Abstract

In the Vorarbeiten to the Streitschrift against Eberhard there is a Kant's annotation with a relative abundance of vocables taken from the music. These four lines are preceded by mention of a page interval from an unidentified text. This paper, revealing the source to which Kant alludes indirectly, comments a musical example from Eberhard against critical philosophy, precisely the same that gave rise to this annotation of the philosopher. After some philological considerations on the musical vocabulary employed by both authors, I proceed to an analysis of the metaphor and their argumentative effectiveness.