The Ambiguity of the Term 'Radical Enlightenment'

© 2018 by Tijdschrift voor Filosofie. All rights reserved. In this article I focus on a recent contrast - first constructed by historians and subsequently by philosophers - in the conceptual analysis of the concept 'Enlightenment'. Over the past few decades the concept radical Enlightenment has been opposed to that of a moderate variant. How are we to understand these concepts? In what way does the substantial meaning given to these two concepts determine our contemporary relation to the Enlightenment and above all determine which variant we are - consciously or unconsciously - propagating? My aim is to answer these questions in three steps. First, I try to chart the genealogical history of the recent concept 'radical Enlightenment'. Second, I look at the way philosophers, in reaction to the historians' findings, have made use of this term. Finally, I designate further avenues for research related to the term's denotative and performative use alike and take - in a tentative way - a position of my own.

Publication year:2018

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Authors from:Higher Education