On Kant's characterization of the academic conflict between the Faculties as a political contest. Metaphorical or literal sense?

ILEANA PAOLA BEADE

Tiradentes, Minas Gerais

Congreso; IV Coloquio Kant Multilateral: Kant e as metáforas da razão; 2013

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Under the general title of Der Streit der Fakultäten (SF), Kant publishes in 1798 three brief texts, the first of which specifically refers to the contest between the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Theology. As in his essay of 1784 about the Enlightenment1, Kant vindicates here the importance of guaranteeing freedom of thought and freedom of expression, freedoms which must be exercised, however, within strict limits, so that they do not threaten the authority of the government and do not compromise the stability of the juridical state. In his description of the contest between the Faculties, Kant resorts to several metaphors (economical, political, juridical and literary), which play different roles as his main argument unfolds. In this paper, I analyze the meaning of some these metaphors, namely: of those which emphasize the eminently political sense of the conflict. This analysis, developed in the first section, will show that Kant's characterization of this conflict as a political struggle is not, in fact, metaphorical but rather literal. In the second section, I will consider some texts in which Kant makes reference to the intrinsically autonomous, communicative and equitable character of reason. The analysis of these texts will show that the essentially critical task Kant entrusts to reason turns out to have clear political projections. Effectively, philosophical reason comes necessarily into conflict with political authorities, and I think it is for that reason that Kant attempts to persuade the rulers that the critical inquiries entrusted to the Faculty of philosophy will not undermine their authority, provided that they are developed within a strictly delimited institutional context, that is, as long as the philosophical community makes a free public use of reason, accepting, however, the necessary and unavoidable limitations imposed on reason in its private use.