Les Temps modernes et le tournant transcendantal. Blumenberg, Kant et la question du monde

Abstract

Blumenberg’s phenomenology of the history of concepts couldn’t overlook Kantian inventions to escape the dead ends of metaphysics. Kant constitutes a decisive help in mapping the ruptures of Modern Age. On the one hand, the cosmogonical essays of the precritical period illustrate reason’s typically modern self-assertion. On the other hand, the transcendental turn stands for a radicalization of Modern Age towards the Enlightenment. But Blumenberg also pays attention to what, in Kant, disturbs the modern project of reason’s self-authorization. Transcendental philosophy always calls for a new beginning, because it anticipates its possible failure.