Description
Book SynopsisAmong his generation of intellectuals, the eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder is recognized both for his innovative philosophy of language and history and for his passionate criticism of racism, colonialism, and imperialism. A student of Immanuel Kant, Herder challenged the idea that anyone – even the philosophers of the Enlightenment – could have a monopoly on truth.
In Herder: Aesthetics against Imperialism, John K. Noyes plumbs the connections between Herder’s anti-imperialism, often acknowledged but rarely explored in depth, and his epistemological investigations. Noyes argues that Herder’s anti-rationalist epistemology, his rejection of universal conceptions of truth, knowledge, and justice, constitutes the first attempt to establish not just a moral but an epistemological foundation for anti-imperialism. Engaging with the work of postcolonial theorists such Dipesh Chakrabarty and Gayatri Spivak, this book is a v
Trade Review
‘A profound source of philosophical interpretation, which is very close to the source, in which Herder’s significance for the current discourse of global history and anti-imperialism is of surprising actuality.’ -- Michael Maurer * H-Soz-u-Kult March 2017 *
‘While displaying a remarkable suppleness, Noyes strikes a cogent, yet nuanced balance between probing, sensitive readings of Herder’s and his Enlightenment contemporaries’ texts on the one hand, and, on the other, deliberative, thought-provoking critical commentary on current Herder scholarship.’ -- David R. Greeves * Arcadia vol 52:03:2017 *
Table of Contents
Introduction: Postcolonial Theory and Herder's Anti-Imperialism Chapter 1: From Epistemology to Aesthetics Chapter 2: From Organic Life to the Politics of Interpretation Chapter 3: From Human Restlessness to the Politics of Difference Chapter 4: From the Location of Language to the Multiplicity of Reason Chapter 5: From Human Diversity to the Politics of Natural Development Chapter 6: The Aesthetics of Revolution and the Critique of Imperialism Conclusion: Herder, Postcolonialism, and the Antinomy of Universal Reason
