The New Conflict of the Faculties: Kant, Radical Enlightenment, The Hyper-State, and How to Philosophize During a Pandemic

  • Robert Hanna Independent Philosopher, USA
Keywords: Kant, Radical enlightenment, Hyper-State, Digital media, Vivil disobedience, Voltaire, 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In this essay, I apply the Kantian (or at the very least, Kant-inspired) interpretation of enlightenment as radical enlightenment to the enterprise of philosophy within the context of our contemporary world-situation, and try to answer this very hard question: “As radically enlightened Kantian philosophers confronted by the double-whammy consisting of what I call The Hyper-State, together with the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic, what should we dare to think and do?” The very hard problem posed by this very hard question is what I’ll call The New Conflict of the Faculties. By way of a direct answer to this very hard question and by way of an effective solution to this very hard problem, I provide seven recommendations.

Author Biography

Robert Hanna, Independent Philosopher, USA

Robert Hanna is an independent philosopher, Co-Director of the online philosophy mega-project, Philosophy Without Borders, and Director of The Contemporary Kantian Philosophy Project. He received his PhD from Yale University USA in 1989, and has held research or teaching positions at the University of Cambridge UK, the University of Colorado at Boulder USA, the University of Luxembourg LU, PUC-PR Brazil, Yale, and York University CA.

View citations

Article download

Crossmark

Metrics

Published
2021-06-09
How to Cite
Hanna R. (2021). The New Conflict of the Faculties: Kant, Radical Enlightenment, The Hyper-State, and How to Philosophize During a Pandemic. Con-Textos Kantianos. International Journal of Philosophy, 13, 209-233. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4899366
Section
Dossier Kant contemporáneo / Kant subterráneo