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On Metaphysics and Nationality

The Rival Enlightenments of Kant and Herder

Western Illinois University

The enlightenment ideal has long been under fire, but perhaps by nothing so much as the continuing appeal of national belonging. The nation’s affective hold on how people think about the world connects with metaphysical complaints with modernity, thereby making a rational response to nationalism especially difficult. This was an issue known to both Kant and Herder, who addressed themselves to the related metaphysical complications of nationality in very different ways. Although Herder’s rejection of many of Kant’s cosmopolitan claims is well known, the centrality of national affectivity to his religious approach to the problem of enlightenment is not as well understood, despite its equal importance to his overall critique of Kant. This article considers certain aspects of Kant’s and Herder’s rival enlightenment philosophies and suggests the superiority of Herderian arguments to understanding the way in which nations continue to play a normative role in a post-Enlightenment world.

Key Words: Kant • Herder • enlightenment • modernity • nationality

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