Author Archives: James Schmidt

About James Schmidt

Professor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science Boston University

Fabricating the “Counter-Enlightenment” — Part II: German Uses 1875 – 1925

Posted on November 17, 2013

The first post in this series examined Zeev Sternhell’s claim that Nietzsche “probably invented” the term Gegenaufklärung and noted that (1) Nietzsche’s one use of the term is difficult to reconcile with the subsequent usage of the term that we … Continue reading →

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Kant on “Paradoxical Thinking”

Posted on October 30, 2013

Various  commitments have conspired to delay the next installment of my discussion of the history of the notion of “counter-enlightenment.”  But in the course of my reading, I came across a quote from Kant’s lectures on anthropology that casts a … Continue reading →

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The Fading of “True Enlightenment” (Another Wildcard Search)

Posted on October 18, 2013

Apologies for the uncharacteristic flurry of activity on this blog, but Google’s addition of wildcard searches to the Ngram (and some tweaks in how it displays the data) has allowed me to take a quick look at a few issues … Continue reading →

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Enlightenment and Ngram Wild Card Searches

Posted on October 18, 2013

A link on my Twitter feed this morning alerted me to Ben Zimmer’s article in the Atlantic on a new (and welcome) feature that Google has added to the Ngram:  wild card searches. Naturally, I thought I’d try it out with … Continue reading →

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Fabricating the “Counter-Enlightenment” — Part 1: Nietzsche’s Role

Posted on October 14, 2013

When asked “Who invented the word ‘counter-Enlightenment?” Isaiah Berlin replied I don’t know who invented the concept …. Someone must have said it. Could it be myself? I should be somewhat surprised. Perhaps I did. I really have no idea.1 … Continue reading →

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Ironic Enlightenment? Voltaire, Fussell, and the Neverending End of the Age of Irony

Posted on September 30, 2013

Readers of this blog may have noted a certain slackening of activity. The explanation is simple enough: September arrived and, with it, the opening of the fall term (or, as one of my more jaded friends likes to call it, … Continue reading →

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Securing the Borders: On the Genealogy of Scientism (Part II)

Posted on September 19, 2013

Leon Wieseltier’s response to Steven Pinker’s rejoinder to Wieseltier’s earlier attempt to defend the humanities from the depredations of what he terms “scientism” prompted me, in my previous post, to offer a few thoughts on the history of this peculiar … Continue reading →

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