Freedom and the End of Reason by Richard L. Velkley

Author:Richard L. Velkley [Velkley, Richard L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1989-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

5

Culture and the Practical Interpretation of the End of Reason, 1781–1800

The Ultimate End of Theoretical Inquiry

If any work has maintained the force of a constant undertow beneath the surface currents of Western culture in the past two centuries, it is the Critique of Pure Reason. Yet one might not associate this work with the term culture, or suppose that this writing among Kant’s writings addresses itself to the task of forming a “culture,” unless it be the culture of speculative thinkers and of scientists or theoreticians who take guidance from them in fundamental matters of cognition. But the reader of the Critique may miss the point that its inquiries are directed toward a reform of all culture, which is to begin with the reform of metaphysics. The latter notably is described as “the perfection of all culture of human reason.”1

It is widely known that Kant has instigated the later modern way of understanding culture, as the free development of the rational powers that have an “arbitrary” and as yet indeterminate fulfillment. Man alone as free legislator over his powers can prescribe an end or fulfillment to them.2 But unlike many later modern accounts of culture, Kant’s version subordinates the whole of culture to the legislation of philosophic reason. The Critique is written to secure and promote a hierarchical ordering implicit in every human reasoner who possesses in germ the idea of philosophy’s legislation. The critical philosopher outlines the “architectonic” structure of reason, which the development of reason in the species contains implicitly, but which it does not consciously realize or fully embody. Once it is brought to humanity’s awareness through the Critique, this outline serves as an “ideal” of a system of the unified rational powers, one that humanity over millennia gradually approaches. The organizing principle of this ideal is the subordination of all theoretical inquiry, and all other culture of human skills and talents, to the ultimate moral end of reason.

We turn to the Critique as the primary testament of the “revolution” that Kant sought in the ordering of human interests and powers. This ordering will “secure the true and lasting welfare of the human species,” such as Kant declared to be the function of metaphysics at the start of his journey to the critical philosophy. The Critique contains the full elaboration of the metaphysical propaedeutic that provides the foundation of something new in the self-understanding of reason, which is neither a new speculative metaphysics nor a new moral philosophy.3 Rather, the ground is laid for an ultimate flourishing and self-reconciliation of human reason in all of its employments. The first phase of the foundational legislation is “negative”—the removing of obstacles that stand in the way of reason’s grasp of its true essence; reason is a self-determining power that alone is responsible for the projection and achievement of humanity’s final end. The greater part of the Critique is dedicated to this negative task, which is perhaps the more crucial phase of the argument. For the inquiries of critical philosophy

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.