I “concetti fondamentali” come strumenti di orientamento: una questione kantiana

The “fundamental concepts” as instruments of orientation : a Kantian question. Following Kant’s insight about the intimate connection between spatial orientation and spiritual orientation, my paper aims at reconstructing the tradition of the so-called Grundbegriffe (“fundamental concepts”) in the German-speaking culture, between the 18th and the 20th century, with a particular focus on the Kunstwissenschaft (science of art). I will argue that, in spite of the severe criticism raised against the systematic aspirations implied by the methodological recourse to the Grundbegriffe, and in spite of their decline during the second half of the 20th century, the elaboration of fundamental concepts remains a necessary heuristic tool for our orientation in the historical (and art-historical) world.