Thanks for the channel update and happy holidays to you too. Look forward to you resuming the rest of Kant and whatever else you have planned. I am sure it will be well received because of one important perspective that you offer that no other TH-cam channel does. It has to do with the sorry state of German to English translations. Let me explain. Most translations of important German texts have been atrociously bad until the 1980s. Only recently has the scholarship improved vastly and we are getting new translations and revisions of old translations with expanded commentary. For Kant's works, we absolutely need more new translations. What you offer is a direct link to the original German Kant uses. That is invaluable to a native English listener even if your English is not as good as your German. We need the meaning of what Kant meant without any filters imposed by translators. Old translators invented new idioms and styles that destroyed important works. Modern authors are undoing this damage and recognize the importance of conveying the original meaning. As you found out how even a simple word like "enlightenment" is inadequate to capture the real meaning, more authors are taking this task seriously. Most TH-cam channels covering Kant (in native English) are the same rote academic recitations without much analysis or explanation. None of them go in-depth as you do. So it will take time for word to spread around. Have patience. I myself got into Kant from two different paths. One was Hannah Arendt and the other aesthetics. After your categories video, for an exercise, I applied Kant's categories to Arendt's politics (from the Human Condition): Quantity: Unity (the singular nature of political action). Quality: Reality (the actual existence of political events). Relation: Causality (the relationship between political actions and events). Modality: Necessity (the necessity of political engagement). One day as I was browsing aimlessly after a particularly depressing day of violence in the Middle East, I saw one of your videos popped in my TH-cam feed. That's a good sign for the future of your channel because it means others will also discover your channel through subject matter relevance. That's the best way to gain traction.
Yes, correct translations are crucial. German philosophy has certainly been hindered and misunderstood a lot in parts due to bad translations. Some things unfortunately can hardly be translated properly - such as the word Aufklärung. But even with those that could be translated, it is not an easy task. It should be done by someone who knows that philosophy very well and actually understands what he is translating. Especially when it comes to a systematic thinker like Kant I’d also argue that it’s important to not just translate a single isolated text but rather to create one consistent translation for the whole. For example in Kant’s moral philosophy he says that humanity mustn’t be treated as a mere Mittel, but as a Zweck in itself. I think that’s usually translated as: not as a mere means to an end, but as an end in itself. And by itself that’s a decent translation, Zweck means end here. But then in his aesthetics he says we find things beautiful that are zweckmäßig in their form. And I think that has been translated as purposive. Which again, on its own is fine, Zweck means something like purpose, so zweckmäßig could mean purposive. But if you translate the Critique of Practical Reason and make Kant talk of an end in itself and then translate the Critique of the Power of Judgment and make him talk of purposiveness, the connection is lost. And the connection (as I will get into with the lectures starting in January) is not just a superficial and coincidental similarity of words but a quite important one. And don’t worry, I’m not in a rush. If I possess one virtue, patience might be it. Obscurity has its perks, as Nietzsche (who only really became famous posthumously or at least after his breakdown) observed. If you’re interested in aesthetics, my upcoming videos till the spring should be just perfect for you. Thank you also for sharing the result of your exercise! As it happens, I’m currently reading Arendt on the side a bit. Your categorization seems reasonable to me. I’m glad you found my videos! The situation can easily have a depressing effect, yes. I’d say it’s important, one, to have a “mentaly hygiene”. Being sad at other’s misery doesn’t help them, it only multiplies the misery in the world. I’d never advocate just ignoring the evil in the world. But just like we don’t have to stuff our stomach till it’s too much and we puke, we don’t have to stuff our soul either. We need to have a sense for when it says stop. Secondly, rather than focusing on everything that is bad, we should focus on what we can do. Just like Greta Thunberg was healed from her crippling depression and anxiety by taking action for the climate, just like I myself am a quite happy person, not because I’m happy with the world but because I am working to aufklär it, so taking some action and doing some change can be healthy for anyone.
Your lectures are a treasure I am most grateful to have found this past month, I am still getting through them. Channel growth is inevitable because this is high quality stuff, many more like myself will find these gems waiting for them because we’re seeking answers and meaning. Would love see you make an appearance on @Rahul Sam philosophy podcast. Profound message in that poem🇵🇸. And Merry Christmas to you to🎉
Thank you! Well, I hope to be able to help in that search. For now it’s just the Kant videos but when I get around to it, I’ll also make translations of some videos that I already have up on my German channel, which express my own philosophy and talk about Aufklärung in general. I hope to help any seeker with those and all else I’ll do. I don’t know that channel. Personally I’d like to have a chat with @seekersofunity, though unfortunately he seems to be on hiatus for now. But generally, I’d be up for talking everywhere and to everyone, as long as there is honest interest and openness for Aufklärung.
Thanks for the channel update and happy holidays to you too. Look forward to you resuming the rest of Kant and whatever else you have planned. I am sure it will be well received because of one important perspective that you offer that no other TH-cam channel does. It has to do with the sorry state of German to English translations. Let me explain.
Most translations of important German texts have been atrociously bad until the 1980s. Only recently has the scholarship improved vastly and we are getting new translations and revisions of old translations with expanded commentary. For Kant's works, we absolutely need more new translations.
What you offer is a direct link to the original German Kant uses. That is invaluable to a native English listener even if your English is not as good as your German. We need the meaning of what Kant meant without any filters imposed by translators. Old translators invented new idioms and styles that destroyed important works. Modern authors are undoing this damage and recognize the importance of conveying the original meaning.
As you found out how even a simple word like "enlightenment" is inadequate to capture the real meaning, more authors are taking this task seriously.
Most TH-cam channels covering Kant (in native English) are the same rote academic recitations without much analysis or explanation. None of them go in-depth as you do. So it will take time for word to spread around. Have patience.
I myself got into Kant from two different paths. One was Hannah Arendt and the other aesthetics. After your categories video, for an exercise, I applied Kant's categories to Arendt's politics (from the Human Condition):
Quantity: Unity (the singular nature of political action).
Quality: Reality (the actual existence of political events).
Relation: Causality (the relationship between political actions and events).
Modality: Necessity (the necessity of political engagement).
One day as I was browsing aimlessly after a particularly depressing day of violence in the Middle East, I saw one of your videos popped in my TH-cam feed. That's a good sign for the future of your channel because it means others will also discover your channel through subject matter relevance. That's the best way to gain traction.
Yes, correct translations are crucial. German philosophy has certainly been hindered and misunderstood a lot in parts due to bad translations. Some things unfortunately can hardly be translated properly - such as the word Aufklärung. But even with those that could be translated, it is not an easy task. It should be done by someone who knows that philosophy very well and actually understands what he is translating. Especially when it comes to a systematic thinker like Kant I’d also argue that it’s important to not just translate a single isolated text but rather to create one consistent translation for the whole. For example in Kant’s moral philosophy he says that humanity mustn’t be treated as a mere Mittel, but as a Zweck in itself. I think that’s usually translated as: not as a mere means to an end, but as an end in itself. And by itself that’s a decent translation, Zweck means end here. But then in his aesthetics he says we find things beautiful that are zweckmäßig in their form. And I think that has been translated as purposive. Which again, on its own is fine, Zweck means something like purpose, so zweckmäßig could mean purposive. But if you translate the Critique of Practical Reason and make Kant talk of an end in itself and then translate the Critique of the Power of Judgment and make him talk of purposiveness, the connection is lost. And the connection (as I will get into with the lectures starting in January) is not just a superficial and coincidental similarity of words but a quite important one.
And don’t worry, I’m not in a rush. If I possess one virtue, patience might be it. Obscurity has its perks, as Nietzsche (who only really became famous posthumously or at least after his breakdown) observed.
If you’re interested in aesthetics, my upcoming videos till the spring should be just perfect for you. Thank you also for sharing the result of your exercise! As it happens, I’m currently reading Arendt on the side a bit. Your categorization seems reasonable to me.
I’m glad you found my videos! The situation can easily have a depressing effect, yes. I’d say it’s important, one, to have a “mentaly hygiene”. Being sad at other’s misery doesn’t help them, it only multiplies the misery in the world. I’d never advocate just ignoring the evil in the world. But just like we don’t have to stuff our stomach till it’s too much and we puke, we don’t have to stuff our soul either. We need to have a sense for when it says stop. Secondly, rather than focusing on everything that is bad, we should focus on what we can do. Just like Greta Thunberg was healed from her crippling depression and anxiety by taking action for the climate, just like I myself am a quite happy person, not because I’m happy with the world but because I am working to aufklär it, so taking some action and doing some change can be healthy for anyone.
Your lectures are a treasure I am most grateful to have found this past month, I am still getting through them. Channel growth is inevitable because this is high quality stuff, many more like myself will find these gems waiting for them because we’re seeking answers and meaning. Would love see you make an appearance on @Rahul Sam philosophy podcast. Profound message in that poem🇵🇸. And Merry Christmas to you to🎉
Thank you!
Well, I hope to be able to help in that search. For now it’s just the Kant videos but when I get around to it, I’ll also make translations of some videos that I already have up on my German channel, which express my own philosophy and talk about Aufklärung in general. I hope to help any seeker with those and all else I’ll do.
I don’t know that channel. Personally I’d like to have a chat with @seekersofunity, though unfortunately he seems to be on hiatus for now. But generally, I’d be up for talking everywhere and to everyone, as long as there is honest interest and openness for Aufklärung.