Civility, Enlightenment, and Society

Conceptual Confusions and Kantian Remedies

Bibliographic Data

ID3545017
AuthorsJames Schmidt (corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume92
Issue2
Pages419-427
Publication date1998-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2585674
OpenAlexW2012437681
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited31

Critics of what is called the "Enlightenment project" have argued that it has been responsible for a number of current social pathologies. At the same time, the term "civil society" has been used to designate those patterns of solidarity that the Enlightenment project allegedly disrupts. This article (1) argues that characterizations of the Enlightenment project tend to be elusive and historically questionable, (2) suggests that the concept of civil society is ambiguous in both its object and its intent, (3) explores how Kant provided a more rigorous account of the relationship between enlightenment and civil society, an account which rests on a contrast between civil and cosmopolitan society, and (4) considers some of the difficulties that plague attempts to define "civility" as a virtue

Civil society · Civility · Enlightenment · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Solidarity · Virtue · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religion and Society Interactions

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