851-0101-78L Reason and the Public Sphere - the Legacy of the Enlightenment
| Semester | Autumn Semester 2019 |
| Lecturers | U. J. Wenzel |
| Periodicity | non-recurring course |
| Language of instruction | German |
| Abstract | Immanuel Kant wrote in 1784 that the Enlightenment required nothing more than the freedom «to make public use of one's reason in all its forms». In discussing Kant's philosophy, the seminar will examine the question of how «close» the (conceptual) relationship between reason and the public sphere is. |
| Learning objective | Reconstructing and discussing Kant's philosophical approaches to the relationship between reason and the public sphere from his pertinent writings and developping criteria for assessing to what extent the concepts of reason and the public sphere are mutually interdependent. |
| Content | In his much quoted treatise «Was ist Aufklärung?» («What is Enlightenment?»), Immanuel Kant wrote in 1784 that the Enlightenment required nothing more than the freedom «to make public use of one's reason in all its forms». According to Kant, reason consists in the «consenting/attuning of free citizens» and only recognizes, «was ihre freie und öffentliche Prüfung hat aushalten können» (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, B 766f. und A XI Anm.). In discussing Kant's philosophy, the seminar will examine the question of how «close» the (conceptual) relationship between reason and the public sphere is. Does reason need the public sphere in order to be reason? Is the public sphere a necessary condition for reason? But also in the reverse perspective one could ask: Does the public sphere only correspond to its concept if the communication of which it is the medium follows «reasonable rules»? What can «consenting of free citizens» mean outside the political sphere, in science and philosophy? Does the idea of a Republic of Letters provide the model for the enlightening concept of the public sphere or «the public»? Following the close reading of Kant which forms the main focus, pertinent texts by Dewey, Heidegger and Habermas, among others, will be discussed. |
| Literature | Einschlägige Kapitel und Passagen aus Immanuel Kants Werken, insbesondere: - Träume eines Geistersehers, erläutert durch die Träume der Metaphysik (1766) - Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781/1787) - Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung (1784) - Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten (1785) - Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788) - Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790) - Zum Ewigen Frieden (1795/1796) - Die Metaphysik der Sitten (1797) - Der Streit der Fakultäten (1798) |