Date:
Wednesday, December 7, 2016, 12:15pm to 1:45pm
Location:
Adolphus Busch Hall, Hoffmann Room, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Visiting Scholars' Seminar: New Research on Europe
Eva Piirimäe
Associate Professor of Political Theory, University of Tartu, Estonia; Visiting Scholar, CES, Harvard University
Johann Gottfried Herder and Immanuel Kant were both critics of despotism, imperialism and colonialism yet held sharply diverging views on epistemology, anthropology, and the foundations of morality. From 1785 on Herder also developed a sustained though mostly implicit critique of various aspects of his erstwhile mentor’s political thought, including his ideal of perpetual peace. The talk will focus specifically on Herder’s critique of Kant’s evolving theories of the modern state and international order and on his alternative vision of the possible pacification of Europe.
See also: Elsewhere at Harvard