Sulle tracce del conservatorismo: immagini della decadenza nella filosofia kantiana della storia

Abstract

This essay focuses on Kant’s image and interpretation of decadence in his philosophy of history. Compared to progress, decadence is an older and wider category, with a very insidious metaphysical background. Just because Kant is by definition the philosopher of progress, the topics related to decadence are for him a valuable tool for identifying and criticizing the purposes of conservatism. On the border between philosophy of history, political philosophy and philosophy of religion, what Kant repeatedly argues is that the issue of the inescapable decay of the world is one of the ways in which conservatives oppose the French revolution. Kant’s refutation of this narrative strategy is therefore not an obvious defense of Enlightenment, but a political and moral struggle against paternalistic and despotic power.