UID:
edocfu_9958352893702883
Format:
1 online resource
ISBN:
9781442622975
Series Statement:
German and European Studies
Content:
Among his generation of intellectuals, the eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder is recognized both for his innovative philosophy of language and history and for his passionate criticism of racism, colonialism, and imperialism. A student of Immanuel Kant, Herder challenged the idea that anyone – even the philosophers of the Enlightenment – could have a monopoly on truth.In Herder: Aesthetics against Imperialism, John K. Noyes plumbs the connections between Herder’s anti-imperialism, often acknowledged but rarely explored in depth, and his epistemological investigations. Noyes argues that Herder’s anti-rationalist epistemology, his rejection of universal conceptions of truth, knowledge, and justice, constitutes the first attempt to establish not just a moral but an epistemological foundation for anti-imperialism. Engaging with the work of postcolonial theorists such Dipesh Chakrabarty and Gayatri Spivak, this book is a valuable reassessment of Enlightenment anti-imperialism that demonstrates Herder’s continuing relevance to postcolonial studies today.
Note:
Frontmatter --
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Contents --
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List of Illustrations --
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Acknowledgments --
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Introduction: Postcolonial Theory and Herder’s Anti-Imperialism --
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1. From Epistemology to Aesthetics --
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2. From Organic Life to the Politics of Interpretation --
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3. From Human Restlessness to the Politics of Difference --
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4. From the Location of Language to the Multiplicity of Reason --
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5. From Human Diversity to the Politics of Natural Development --
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6. The Aesthetics of Revolution and the Critique of Imperialism --
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Conclusion: Herder, Postcolonialism, and the Antinomy of Universal Reason --
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Notes --
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Works Cited --
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Index
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In English.
Language:
English
DOI:
10.3138/9781442622975
URL:
https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442622975
