Lotze's Ideenwelt

Lotze renovates and reconstructs the Platonic “theory of ideas” ( Ideenlehre ) as the Platonic “world of ideas” ( Ideenwelt ). But the way in which this transformation is ultimately accomplished is not at all straightforward. The theory of ideas is found to be an essentially epistemological account, arising, first and foremost, as one of a number of possible responses to skepticism and relativism. But Lotze ultimately prefers the terminology of “methodology” (in the place of epistemology) and goes, yet further, redefining method here as a single, foundational act, rather than framing it, as one might expect, as a repeatable heuristic or technique. This singular act is rooted in, and identifiable with, what I describe as Lotze’s curious premises for “the stability of meaning.” This move establishes what we may call “the semantic dimension,” a realm of meaning, clearly associated with both thought and language. Additionally, the world of ideas is also conformed to certain romantic and idealist themes and motifs, including, most prominently, the “holistic” and the “organic.” All of these insights, when combined, allow for the complete emergence of a “third realm,” one located beyond the old, sterile divide between the inner and the outer worlds. This is where I would also situate Lotze’s “semantic holism.” The interpretation advanced here has further implications for Lotze’s status as a mid-nineteenth-century philosopher of language.