Who Guards the Guardians? Kant, Hamann, and the Violence of Public Reasoners
Who Guards the Guardians? Kant, Hamann, and the Violence of Public Reasoners

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines one of the most potent contemporaneous criticisms of the German Enlightenment (circa 1790) as well as the lessons that can be learned from such criticism. Specifically, it examines Kant's famous essay, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment,” and Hamman's objection drawn mainly from his “Letter to Christian Jacob Kraus.” It further argues Hamann’s criticisms are foresighted, especially when read against the subsequent dark imperil history of the ‘West' as seen in post-colonial theory.

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