The colonial period of U.S. history contains a variety of interesting lessons. One of these pertains to the concept of a "virtuoso." The virtuoso was primarily characterized by curiosity. Rather than being overly specialized, the virtuoso explored a wide range of interests. The study of nature, art, literature, and theology all would have been pursuits common to this stereotype. This blog aspires to take this early category and use it as a point of departure for exploration and reflection.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottfried Herder on Reflexive Freedom
"Both Kant and Herder are convinced that merely negative determinations of freedom are insufficient because they do not penetrate the space of reasons, thus regarding subjects as free in a merely external sense without taking account of whether their realized intentions themselves meet the conditions of freedom. In order to correct this grave omission, both thinkers adopt Rousseau's idea that individual freedom rests on free will. Subjects are only truly free if they restrict their actions to intentions or aims that are free of any trace of compulsion. But when it comes to how subjects carry out such a purification process, the two thinkers part ways. Whereas Kant proposes that we interpret the free will as the product of rational autonomy, Herder assumes that the purification of the will is a matter of discovering one's own, authentic desires." Axel Honneth, Freedom's Right, 34.
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