Late Kant: Towards Another Law of the Earth

235 Pages·2003·1.91 MB·English

by  Peter Fenves

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LATE KANT
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111 Fenves is one of the most innovative and brilliant thinkers now writing
in the field of German philosophy and literature ... [He] makes a
compelling case for the importance and undeserved neglect of the “late”
Kant; and suggests new ways in which Kant’s work is relevant to the
present. Fenves has the rare gift of combining scrupulous historical
scholarship, a finely tuned literary ear, and an extraordinary analytic
mind.
Susan Shell, Boston College
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Immanuel Kant spent most of his life working on what would eventually become
his masterpieces: the three Critiques. But his work did not stop there: in later
life, under political pressure and complaining of oppressive “brain cramps,” he
undertook a number of new and surprising adventures in thought.
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In Late Kant: Towards Another Law of the Earth, Peter Fenves explores for the
first time Kant’s post-critical writings as a philosophical and political project in
its own right. In his opening chapters, he investigates the precise manner in
which Kant invents, formulates, and complicates the thesis of “radical evil” – a
thesis which serves as the point of departure for all his later writings. Late Kant
0111 then turns towards the counter-thesis of “radical mean-ness,” which states that
human beings exist on earth for the sake of another species or race of human
beings. The consequences of this startling thesis are that human beings cannot
legitimately divide and claim possession of the earth, but must rather prepare
the globe for its rightful owners.
Late Kant: Towards Another Law of the Earth is the first book to develop the
“geo-ethics” that issues from Kant’s critical philosophy and to examine the
unprecedented proposal that human beings must be prepared to concede their
space to another kind of humanity. It is essential reading for anyone interested
in the thought of Immanuel Kant.
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Peter Fenvesis Professor of German, Comparative Literature, and Jewish Studies
at Northwestern University. He is the author of A Peculiar Fate: Kant and World
History (1991), “Chatter”: Language and History in Kierkegaard (1993), Arresting
Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin (2001), and the editor of Raising the Tone of
4111 Philosophy: Late Essays by Kant, Transformative Critique by Derrida (1993).

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LATE KANT
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Towards another law of the earth
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Peter Fenves
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First published 2003
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
© 2003 Peter Fenves
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Fenves, Peter D. (Peter David), 1960–
Late Kant: towards another law of the earth/Peter Fenves.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Kant, Immanuel, 1724–1804. I. Title.
B2798.F355 2003
193–dc21 2002045489
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-203-48043-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-48052-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–24680–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–24681–4 (pbk)
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...kurz, laßt den Menschen spät erst wissen, daß es
Menschen, daß es irgend etwas außer ihm giebt...
– Hölderlin
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CONTENTS
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111 Note on translation x
Introduction 1
Lateness 1
Inconsistency 4
A late-coming kind 6
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1 The pleasures of failure: toward an unnumbered “Remark”
in the Critique of Judgment 8
The spirit of Epicurus 8
“The attainment of every intention” 14
111 Whole life 20
Laughter 24
The inner “jokester” 29
2 The sovereign sentence: from the Preface to the first
0111 edition of the first Critique to the Doctrine of Right 32
Infallibility 32
Echoing the king 35
“The spectacle of a slaughter-bench” 38
Colonialism 42
Another historical sign 45
3 The other sovereign sentence: “On the Failure of All
Philosophical Attempts at Theodicy” 47
“Without fail” 47
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An inside joke 49
Laughter 52
“Authentic interpretation” 55
Allegorical expression 59
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CONTENTS
Leviathan 63
Sadness 66
Immanuel 72
4 Out of the blue: “On the Radical Evil in Human Nature” 75
Secrecy 75
Proof by virtue of its absence 78
The blues 83
“A multicolored, diverse self” 89
5 Under the sign of failure: Toward Eternal Peace 92
Projectiles of peace 92
Satire 96
Erasing race 101
“The Antichrist” 105
Chance 106
The remnant race 110
6 In the name of friendship; or the case for inconsistency 114
Hypocrisy and hypercritique 114
The friend vanishes 117
Keeping track of one’s friends 121
Fraternity 124
Derrida with Kant 126
Arendt with Lessing 129
7 Revolution in the air; or the end of the human regime
on earth 136
The death of cats in Copenhagen 136
A friendly joke 138
Electrifying events 139
“The end of all things” 143
Arrested thought 150
Transitions 154
Going further 158
Conclusion: making way for another law of the earth 162
The thesis of radical mean-ness 162
Consequences 164
Concession 167
Another delay 170
The last laugh 171
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CONTENTS
111 Notes 175
Bibliography 207
Sources 216
Index 217
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