La figure kantienne du voyageur dans les "Lettres westphaliennes" de Charles de Villers (1797)
The Kantian Figure of the Traveller in the "Westphalian Letters" by Charles de Villers (1797)

Author(s): Nicolas Brucker
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, French Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: travel; Kantianism; Villers; Staël; emigrant; cultural transfer
Summary/Abstract: Charles de Villers, known as the French introducer of Kant’s philosophy, chose in his first Kant presentation to adopt the genre of “philosophical letters”. The traveller of the Westphalian Letters, published in 1797 in Berlin, is a French emigrant acquainted with German culture. His discovery of German cultural realities obeys the Kantian critical approach, especially through the abilities to feel and to know. Kant himself is presented through an allegory: intercultural transfer simplifies Kantianism for greater efficiency. Villers came to Kantianism through the detour of magnetism and homeopathy, which both proceed by desubstantializing material. Literature makes Kant travel from one country to another taking into account trade needs, even if it is not obvious at first glance. Finally cultural mediation stands as a collective work, as shown by the collaboration between Staël and Villers.

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