Kant on the Frontier: Philosophy, Politics, and the Ends of the Earth (Lit Z Ser.)

By: Geoffrey Bennington

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Synopsis: A philosophical exploration of Kant&’s writings on teleology, history, and politics and how the concept of the frontier shapes—and complicates—his thought. At a time when all borders, boundaries, and limits are being challenged, erased, or reinforced—often violently—we must rethink the concept of frontier. But is there even such a concept? Through an original and imaginative reading of Kant, philosopher Geoffrey Bennington casts doubt upon the conceptual coherence of borders. The frontier is both the central element of Kant&’s thought and the permanent frustration of his conceptuality. Bennington brings out the frontier&’s complex, abyssal, fractal structure that leaves a residue of violence in every frontier and complicates Kant&’s most rational arguments in the direction of cosmopolitanism and perpetual peace. Neither a critique of Kant nor a return to Kant, this book proposes a new reflection on philosophical reading, for which thinking about the frontier is both essential and a recurrent, fruitful, interruption.