Repetitio Sententiarum, Repetitio Verborum : Kant, Hamann, and the Implications of Citation

Abstract

A careful comparison of the citational practices of Immanuel Kant and Johann Georg Hamann aims to divulge salient distinctions that should contribute to and complicate our historical understanding of the Enlightenment project. To this end, the present article begins by investigating Kant’s famous gambit in his response to the question “Was ist Aufklärung?” and subsequently traces its links to the philosopher’s earlier engagement with his Königsberg neighbor regarding the proposed collaboration to compose a physics textbook for children. What emerges from this investigation is a revealing and at times confounding network of citations, primarily from Horace, which serve to test the limits of critical discourse. At stake is a redefinition of eighteenth-century language theory that takes into consideration crucial positions on the meaning and value of metaphysics, theology, and human nature.