Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The influence of Kant's philosophy has been, and continues to be, so profound and so widespread as to have become imperceptible. Philosophical inquiry within both the ‘analytic’ and the ‘continental’ traditions is unthinkable without the lexical and conceptual resources bequeathed by Kant. Even outside philosophy, in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, Kantian concepts and structures of argument are ubiquitous. Anyone practicing literary or social criticism is contributing to the Kantian tradition; anyone reflecting on the epistemological implications of their work will find themselves doing so within parameters established by Kant. Indeed, many contemporary debates, whether in aesthetics, literary or political theory, show a peculiar tendency to mutate into disputes in Kant exegesis. All in all, in the less than 200 years since the death of its author, Kantian philosophy has established itself as an indispensable point of intellectual orientation.While few would quarrel with the fact of Kant's influence, opinions differ widely regarding its significance and desirability, and nowhere more than in his innovations with respect to the language of philosophy. It is widely recognized that Kant transformed philosophical language, but there is little agreement as to whether this was a good thing; Isaiah Berlin for one considers him to have ‘ruined’ it. Whatever the final ... log in or subscribe to read full text