James Schmidt | Boston University (original) (raw)
Papers by James Schmidt
This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1986). The ... more This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1986). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, Imprint Academic Ltd.
Ctheory, 1978
The sociology of knowledge is the spectre which haunts Marxism , or so it would seem from the amo... more The sociology of knowledge is the spectre which haunts Marxism , or so it would seem from the amount of ink spilled in efforts to exorcise the demon. Beginning with the publication of Ideology and Utopia in 1929 Marxian critics have attempted time and again to indicate what precisely it is which distinguishes the study of ideology initiated by Mannheim from that proposed by Marx.2 At its worst the debate has shown the remarkable:: extent to which Marxism can remain non-problematic to itself, an exercise which has long since reached a type of scholastic perfection with Soviet Marxism. But, at its best, the presence of the sociology of knowledge has forced reflection on what constitutes the emancipatory intentions which Marxism claims to embody. By showing how such allegedly critical concepts as " ideology" and "class" could be appropriated into a nonMarxian frame of reference, the sociology of knowledge has forced its more acute Marxian aritics to define the:: ema...
This is a program note to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, performed by the Boston University ... more This is a program note to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, performed by the Boston University Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (David Hoose & Scott Allen Jarrett, conducting) at Symphony Hall, Boston University on November 24, 2014. This program note appears in OpenBU courtesy of its author.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1985
Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim, 2009
Lively current debates about narratives of historical progress, the conditions for international ... more Lively current debates about narratives of historical progress, the conditions for international justice, and the implications of globalization have prompted a renewed interest in Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim. The nine Propositions that make up this brief essay raise a set of questions that continue to preoccupy philosophers, historians, and social theorists. Does history, whether construed as a chronicle or as a set of explanatory narratives, indicate anything that can be characterized as meaningful? If so, what is its structure, its rationale and direction? How are we to understand the destructive and bloody upheavals that constitute so much of human experience? What connections, if any, can be traced between politics, economics, and morality? What is the relation between the rule of law in the nation state and the advancement of a cosmopolitan political order? Can the development of individual rationality be compatible with the need for the constraints of political order? Does the study of history convey any philosophical insight? Can it provide political guidance? Kant's nine propositions subtly and implicitly expressand recastsome of the philosophical sources of his views: the voices of the Stoics and Augustine are heard clearly; and although Kant had reservations about Grotius, Hobbes, Leibniz, and Rousseau, their contributions, along with those of Mandeville and Adam Smith, are manifest in the Idea for a Universal History. It is as if this essay were a crucible in which Kant sought to synthesize the purified and transformed views of his predecessors, condensing them into a comprehensive political and cultural history with a philosophical moral. It is itself an instance of the integration of history and philosophical reflection that it heralds. From the Stoics, Kant took the view that nature does nothing in vain, that its regularities are not accidental, but rather reveal a functional organization in which each part plays a necessary role, and that the exercise of rationality constitutes human freedom and finds its highest achievement in political cosmopolitanism. Kant followed Augustine in seeing a providential significance 1
Tese apresentada para qualificação como prérequisito parcial para obtenção do título de
Political Theory, 2001
While my differences with Christian Delacampagne are likely overshadowed by our more fundamental ... more While my differences with Christian Delacampagne are likely overshadowed by our more fundamental agreement on the continuing significance of the Enlightenment and our shared reservations about some of the criticism it has received, it may nevertheless be useful to clarify our disagreements and to correct a few misunderstandings. My article argued that much of what passes today as a critique of "the Enlightenment Project" rests on two questionable moves. The first projects onto the eighteenth century a set of ideals and aspirations that the critic sees as responsible for current maladies. The second, typically cast in the form of what Albert O. Hirschman has termed the "perversity thesis," 1 argues that these ideals and aspirations, while laudable in theory, yield results diametrically opposite from those intended. I argued that the first move results in bad history: the project under attack is largely the creature of the critic. I suggested that the second move yields rather implausible explanations for subsequent events: thus James Q. Wilson sees the distribution of condoms to fourth-graders as part of the "legacy of the Enlightenment" while Berel Lang argues that Kant's moral philosophy has an "affiliation" with Nazi genocide. Delacampagne shares some of my misgivings about the first of these moves, recognizing that "the Enlightenment" encompassed a remarkable diversity of positions and that its critics tend to oversimplify matters. But, after acknowledging that there is "not a single philosophical or political position" shared by "all of the main representatives of the Enlightenment," he manages to find one after all: "the antireligious position." Vacillations of this sort are not unusual in the literature I surveyed: a recognition that the Enlightenment is not a "monolithic block" is regularly followed by arguments that proceed as if it were. Rarely has the maxim "Quit while you are ahead" seemed so appropriate.
This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1981). The ... more This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1981). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, Imprint Academic Ltd.
This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1982). The versi... more This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1982). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, The New School. The journal's website is .
RESUMEN: This paper has both substantive and methodological concerns: Substantively, it is concer... more RESUMEN: This paper has both substantive and methodological concerns: Substantively, it is concerned with changes in the treatment of the concept "enlightenment" over the course of the nineteenth century. Its goal is to track the transmission, translation, and appropriation of German discussions on the nature, ends, and implications of Aufklärung into English. Its particular focus lies with the way in which a group of pejoratives associated with the concept in these German discussions (e.g., "falsche Aufklärung," "flache Aufklärung," "Aufklärerei") made their way into English and how, over the course of the nineteenth century, they were gradually abandoned. The result was the emergence, around 1910, of an understanding of "the Enlightenment" as a distinct historical period. Methodologically, it is interested in exploring some of the ways in which recently developed text analysis and visualization programs (specifically, nGrams and Bo...
In December 1784anarticle appeared in the Berlim'sche Monatsschrift that would go on to become wh... more In December 1784anarticle appeared in the Berlim'sche Monatsschrift that would go on to become what Dan Edelstein has aptly characterized as a "one-stop shop for defining the Enlightenment": Immanuel Kant's "Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" [Beanwortung der Frage: Was ist Aujfklc'irung'n.l Stylistically, it is one of Kant's more memorable performances, opening with a now-canonical characterization of enlightenment as "mankind's exit from its self-incurred immaturity" and proceeding to equip it with a "motto" borrowed from Horace-"Sapere Aude/ Have the courage to use your own understanding!"-that is no less famous. After the familiar opening paragraph, the terrain turns trickier, with a distinction between public and private uses of reason that is hard to square with current conventions of usage. This is followed by embarrassingly excessive praise for Frederick the Great, which readers acquainted with Kant's difficult relationship with Frederick's successor might be inclined to tolerate. Next, there is a passage in which Kant suggests that an autocratic regime such as Frederick's is more likely to foster free public discourse than a republic, which, as other texts make clear, is Kant's preferred form of rule. Finally, there is that troubling passage in which Kant insists that soldiers are obligated to carry out the commands of their superiors, while, nevertheless, retaining the freedom to criticize these same orders in the works that they write for publication once they have fulfilled their obligations. Happily, the essay ends well, with Kant assuring his readers that, though theirs may not be an "enlightened age," it is, nevertheless, "an age of enlightenment." Not the least of the article's virtues is its brevity: all this is accomplished in a little over 3,000 words. It is little wonder, then, that it has become almost obligatory for later accounts of the Enlightenment to begin by quoting Kant's. 89
Telos, 1975
A truly critical Marxian analysis of society does not appear full blown in the thunderclap of a c... more A truly critical Marxian analysis of society does not appear full blown in the thunderclap of a coupure epistémologique, leaving all previous efforts at critical reflection on the far side of the “ideology”-“science” opposition. Rather, as a determinate, historical negation of the self-understanding achieved at those moments of bourgeois social theory's most incisive insights into the limits of its society, it reaches its “new continent of thought” at least in part by vehicles from the old world. It should not be surprising then that those Marxists who have clearly perceived the specificity of Marx's achievement have also often been equally sensitive towards this exploration of the limits of bourgeois thought which has taken place in the finest products of classical liberal social theory.
Social Research, 2012
This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1998). The versi... more This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1998). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, The New School. The journal's website is .
This is a preprint (author's original) version of the article published in History of Europea... more This is a preprint (author's original) version of the article published in History of European Ideas 25(1-2):9-14. The final version of the article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-6599(99)00015-7 (login required to access content). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.
This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1986). The ... more This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1986). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, Imprint Academic Ltd.
Ctheory, 1978
The sociology of knowledge is the spectre which haunts Marxism , or so it would seem from the amo... more The sociology of knowledge is the spectre which haunts Marxism , or so it would seem from the amount of ink spilled in efforts to exorcise the demon. Beginning with the publication of Ideology and Utopia in 1929 Marxian critics have attempted time and again to indicate what precisely it is which distinguishes the study of ideology initiated by Mannheim from that proposed by Marx.2 At its worst the debate has shown the remarkable:: extent to which Marxism can remain non-problematic to itself, an exercise which has long since reached a type of scholastic perfection with Soviet Marxism. But, at its best, the presence of the sociology of knowledge has forced reflection on what constitutes the emancipatory intentions which Marxism claims to embody. By showing how such allegedly critical concepts as " ideology" and "class" could be appropriated into a nonMarxian frame of reference, the sociology of knowledge has forced its more acute Marxian aritics to define the:: ema...
This is a program note to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, performed by the Boston University ... more This is a program note to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, performed by the Boston University Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (David Hoose & Scott Allen Jarrett, conducting) at Symphony Hall, Boston University on November 24, 2014. This program note appears in OpenBU courtesy of its author.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, 1985
Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim, 2009
Lively current debates about narratives of historical progress, the conditions for international ... more Lively current debates about narratives of historical progress, the conditions for international justice, and the implications of globalization have prompted a renewed interest in Kant's Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim. The nine Propositions that make up this brief essay raise a set of questions that continue to preoccupy philosophers, historians, and social theorists. Does history, whether construed as a chronicle or as a set of explanatory narratives, indicate anything that can be characterized as meaningful? If so, what is its structure, its rationale and direction? How are we to understand the destructive and bloody upheavals that constitute so much of human experience? What connections, if any, can be traced between politics, economics, and morality? What is the relation between the rule of law in the nation state and the advancement of a cosmopolitan political order? Can the development of individual rationality be compatible with the need for the constraints of political order? Does the study of history convey any philosophical insight? Can it provide political guidance? Kant's nine propositions subtly and implicitly expressand recastsome of the philosophical sources of his views: the voices of the Stoics and Augustine are heard clearly; and although Kant had reservations about Grotius, Hobbes, Leibniz, and Rousseau, their contributions, along with those of Mandeville and Adam Smith, are manifest in the Idea for a Universal History. It is as if this essay were a crucible in which Kant sought to synthesize the purified and transformed views of his predecessors, condensing them into a comprehensive political and cultural history with a philosophical moral. It is itself an instance of the integration of history and philosophical reflection that it heralds. From the Stoics, Kant took the view that nature does nothing in vain, that its regularities are not accidental, but rather reveal a functional organization in which each part plays a necessary role, and that the exercise of rationality constitutes human freedom and finds its highest achievement in political cosmopolitanism. Kant followed Augustine in seeing a providential significance 1
Tese apresentada para qualificação como prérequisito parcial para obtenção do título de
Political Theory, 2001
While my differences with Christian Delacampagne are likely overshadowed by our more fundamental ... more While my differences with Christian Delacampagne are likely overshadowed by our more fundamental agreement on the continuing significance of the Enlightenment and our shared reservations about some of the criticism it has received, it may nevertheless be useful to clarify our disagreements and to correct a few misunderstandings. My article argued that much of what passes today as a critique of "the Enlightenment Project" rests on two questionable moves. The first projects onto the eighteenth century a set of ideals and aspirations that the critic sees as responsible for current maladies. The second, typically cast in the form of what Albert O. Hirschman has termed the "perversity thesis," 1 argues that these ideals and aspirations, while laudable in theory, yield results diametrically opposite from those intended. I argued that the first move results in bad history: the project under attack is largely the creature of the critic. I suggested that the second move yields rather implausible explanations for subsequent events: thus James Q. Wilson sees the distribution of condoms to fourth-graders as part of the "legacy of the Enlightenment" while Berel Lang argues that Kant's moral philosophy has an "affiliation" with Nazi genocide. Delacampagne shares some of my misgivings about the first of these moves, recognizing that "the Enlightenment" encompassed a remarkable diversity of positions and that its critics tend to oversimplify matters. But, after acknowledging that there is "not a single philosophical or political position" shared by "all of the main representatives of the Enlightenment," he manages to find one after all: "the antireligious position." Vacillations of this sort are not unusual in the literature I surveyed: a recognition that the Enlightenment is not a "monolithic block" is regularly followed by arguments that proceed as if it were. Rarely has the maxim "Quit while you are ahead" seemed so appropriate.
This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1981). The ... more This is an offprint version of the article published in History of Political Thought (1981). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, Imprint Academic Ltd.
This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1982). The versi... more This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1982). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, The New School. The journal's website is .
RESUMEN: This paper has both substantive and methodological concerns: Substantively, it is concer... more RESUMEN: This paper has both substantive and methodological concerns: Substantively, it is concerned with changes in the treatment of the concept "enlightenment" over the course of the nineteenth century. Its goal is to track the transmission, translation, and appropriation of German discussions on the nature, ends, and implications of Aufklärung into English. Its particular focus lies with the way in which a group of pejoratives associated with the concept in these German discussions (e.g., "falsche Aufklärung," "flache Aufklärung," "Aufklärerei") made their way into English and how, over the course of the nineteenth century, they were gradually abandoned. The result was the emergence, around 1910, of an understanding of "the Enlightenment" as a distinct historical period. Methodologically, it is interested in exploring some of the ways in which recently developed text analysis and visualization programs (specifically, nGrams and Bo...
In December 1784anarticle appeared in the Berlim'sche Monatsschrift that would go on to become wh... more In December 1784anarticle appeared in the Berlim'sche Monatsschrift that would go on to become what Dan Edelstein has aptly characterized as a "one-stop shop for defining the Enlightenment": Immanuel Kant's "Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?" [Beanwortung der Frage: Was ist Aujfklc'irung'n.l Stylistically, it is one of Kant's more memorable performances, opening with a now-canonical characterization of enlightenment as "mankind's exit from its self-incurred immaturity" and proceeding to equip it with a "motto" borrowed from Horace-"Sapere Aude/ Have the courage to use your own understanding!"-that is no less famous. After the familiar opening paragraph, the terrain turns trickier, with a distinction between public and private uses of reason that is hard to square with current conventions of usage. This is followed by embarrassingly excessive praise for Frederick the Great, which readers acquainted with Kant's difficult relationship with Frederick's successor might be inclined to tolerate. Next, there is a passage in which Kant suggests that an autocratic regime such as Frederick's is more likely to foster free public discourse than a republic, which, as other texts make clear, is Kant's preferred form of rule. Finally, there is that troubling passage in which Kant insists that soldiers are obligated to carry out the commands of their superiors, while, nevertheless, retaining the freedom to criticize these same orders in the works that they write for publication once they have fulfilled their obligations. Happily, the essay ends well, with Kant assuring his readers that, though theirs may not be an "enlightened age," it is, nevertheless, "an age of enlightenment." Not the least of the article's virtues is its brevity: all this is accomplished in a little over 3,000 words. It is little wonder, then, that it has become almost obligatory for later accounts of the Enlightenment to begin by quoting Kant's. 89
Telos, 1975
A truly critical Marxian analysis of society does not appear full blown in the thunderclap of a c... more A truly critical Marxian analysis of society does not appear full blown in the thunderclap of a coupure epistémologique, leaving all previous efforts at critical reflection on the far side of the “ideology”-“science” opposition. Rather, as a determinate, historical negation of the self-understanding achieved at those moments of bourgeois social theory's most incisive insights into the limits of its society, it reaches its “new continent of thought” at least in part by vehicles from the old world. It should not be surprising then that those Marxists who have clearly perceived the specificity of Marx's achievement have also often been equally sensitive towards this exploration of the limits of bourgeois thought which has taken place in the finest products of classical liberal social theory.
Social Research, 2012
This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1998). The versi... more This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1998). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, The New School. The journal's website is .
This is a preprint (author's original) version of the article published in History of Europea... more This is a preprint (author's original) version of the article published in History of European Ideas 25(1-2):9-14. The final version of the article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-6599(99)00015-7 (login required to access content). The version made available in OpenBU was supplied by the author.
Civility: Boston Studies in Philosophy and Literature, 2000
At the beginning of the 1998 academic year Eugen Tobin, the president of Hamilton College in Clin... more At the beginning of the 1998 academic year Eugen Tobin, the president of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, gave each member of the incoming class a copy of a small book containing the "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and in Conversation" that the fourteen-year-old George Washington copied from aseventeenthcentury English translation of a sixteenth-century French book of manners. In a note accompanying the book he expressed the hope that Washington's ruleswould inspire students "to treat everyonewith kindness, decency, respect and graciousness." He explained, "Since