Tra rapsodia e artificio. Bolzano sulle categorie

The question of categories is crucial in Kant’s philosophy and the later thought, in which it is exploited to recover, correct or oppose transcendental philosophy. Even though Bolzano is a fierce opponent of this philosophy, he does not devote much space to the thematic critique of the concept of «category». He deals with it in Aristotle and in Kant in §§ 118 and 119 of his Wissenschaftslehre, in the appendix to the Doctrine of the Elements, in which he offered his theory of «representations in themselves» or «ideas». The aim of this paper is to present such punctual criticisms and clarify their meaning and assumptions, thus delineating some peculiar concepts of Bolzano, based on which the notion of «summum genus» is originally rethought and any «deduction» is radically rejected.