Marcus Herz was Immanuel Kant’s friend, a former student, and a well-educated man — he qualified as a physician and eventually became a professor of philosophy. Yet, “when Kant gave the MS. of the Critique to his friend Herz, a man much versed in speculation, Herz returned it half read, saying he feared insanity if […]
Kant, Herz and fearing insanity Read More »
From Klaus Christian Köhnke’s The Rise of Neo-Kantianism (Cambridge, 1991): “In the 1870s Kant became the most frequently read of the classics in Germany’s universities” (p. 8) That decade marked the decline of Hegelianism and triumph of neo-Kantianism: “Immediately after the Franco-Prussian war [1870-71] things moved forward rapidly and neo-Kantianism as a whole rose rapidly in the
Köhnke on the rise of Kant after 1870 Read More »
My Explaining Postmodernism book is negative on the major developments in German philosophy, tracing a devolution from Kant through Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Heidegger to the postmodernists. Lots of room in that story for nuances and exceptions, and I’ve received much criticism for being harsh on the German thinkers. I have two forthcoming Open College
Is German philosophy really Counter-Enlightenment? Nietzsche’s assessment Read More »
From Durant’s The Story of Philosophy, p. 380 (or p. 265 of this Google Books edition). THE Kantian philosophy which announced itself as “prolegomena to all future metaphysics,” was, by malicious intent, a murderous thrust at traditional modes of speculation; and, contrary to intent, a damaging blow to all metaphysics whatsoever. For metaphysics had meant,
Will Durant on Kant Read More »
The well-prepared Ricardo Lopes from Portugal interviewed me on the charged question of Nietzsche’s relationship to the National Socialists.
Dissenter interview on Nietzsche, the Nazis, and the Pomo Read More »
My article, “Does Kant Have a Place in Classical Liberalism?” (English) was translated by the indefatigable Matheus Pacini into Portuguese: “KANT TEM LUGAR NO LIBERALISMO CLÁSSICO?” From the description: “Stephen R. C. Hicks argues that if our case for liberty comes from a mysterious other realm, then perhaps we have no case at all. He
Cato Unbound article on Kant translated into Portuguese Read More »
In 1985, the historian of philosophy John Passmore claimed: “The Kantian revival is so widespread as scarcely to lend itself to illustration.” (p. 87) For more on the implications of Passmore’s strong claim and its implications for postmodernism, see p. 87 of my Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism from Rousseau to Foucault. Information about other editions and translations
John Passmore in *Explaining Postmodernism* — on Kant’s significance Read More »
From Jacob Burckhardt’s great The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860): In the Middle Ages, “Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation — only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the state
Individualism, and why I love the Renaissance Read More »