The change in the semantics of the word ‘subject’ in the epistemological-metaphysical meaning is a conceptual development which may be observed by historiographical means in various languages: it shifts from signifying a thing itself to a cognizing being which can consider things. From this development onward, some of the differentiated senses of the term ‘subject’ have ended up narrowly linked to one another. In particular, in philosophical contexts the juridical-political subject and the epistemological-metaphysical subject coalesce at the beginning of the (...) 19th century. The conceptual developments that are correlated to this linking of meanings can be traced from medieval scholasticism and the modern political tradition, through German Enlightenment to Immanuel Kant’s works, and is finally traced to some of the consequences for the current understanding of subjectivity in contemporary thought. (shrink)

This paper offers a contextual, textual and conceptual study of Kant’s notion of humanity and its current interpretations. Its argument is directed against the interpretation of humanity as merely “the capacity to set oneself an end - any end whatsoever”. Kant’s sources, his usage of the word ‘ Menschheit ’ and its conceptual functions suggest a more complex reading that includes not only individualist, but also collectivist, essentialist and personalist meanings. These four meanings are separated – and brought together – (...) by insurmountable metaphysical divides between the phaenomenal and the noumenal, as well as between part and whole. The paper begins by a survey of recent interpretations, then proceeds to explicate the contextual background for Kant’s concept, then draws attention to various use ‘ Menschheit ’ finds in Kant’s texts. The conclusion points at the potential Kant’s substantial and complex notion of humanity has for enriching our understanding of many pressing issues of today. (shrink)