Title: The Metaphysics of Creativity: Nature, Art and Freedom in German Philosophy after Kant
Abstract: There is indeed a paradox that emerges in the philosophy of Kant. On the one hand—as a philosopher of modernity—he forcefully articulates reason’s bifurcation; nature and freedom begin to take on the appearance of a fundamental opposition, a division which appears to threaten life at its most basic level, not only within the realm of philosophy. On the other hand, Kant’s philosophy, particularly in the lesser known Third Critique, attempts to locate the underlying unity of reason and to cross the gulf separating the domains of freedom and nature, beginning to engender the themes that underlie philosophy’s challenge to modernity.
German philosophy after Kant takes up this challenge. With the decline of theology, philosophy takes on the task of articulating a coherent understanding of ourselves and the world, central to this is developing a nonmechanistic view of nature. Through recourse to the phenomena of art and nature, philosophy begins a critique of scientific rationality. This ‘submerged’ tradition of German thought establishes a critique of enlightened reason and rationality that constructs an opposition to the dominant tradition of enquiry, characterised by scientific materialism, and embodied in modern economic, political and social institutions.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
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