Book contents
- Kant on Language
- Kant on Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part ILinguistic Implications of Kant’s Thought
- Part IIHistorical and Philosophical Implications
- Chapter 8Kant’s Vocabulary in Context
- Chapter 9Cassirer on Kant and W. v. Humboldt on Language: “Die Freiheit und Selbständigkeit des geistigen Tuns”
- Chapter 10Anthropology and the Deaf and Dumb
- Chapter 11Not Those Who “All Speak with Pictures”
- Chapter 12Like Entering a Bright Room?
- Chapter 13Kant and the Moral Challenges of Rhetoric
- Chapter 14Kant’s Inferentialism
- Chapter 15Was Kant an Expressivist?
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 15 - Was Kant an Expressivist?
Should He Have Been?
from Part II - Historical and Philosophical Implications
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 September 2025
Book contents
- Kant on Language
- Kant on Language
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part ILinguistic Implications of Kant’s Thought
- Part IIHistorical and Philosophical Implications
- Chapter 8Kant’s Vocabulary in Context
- Chapter 9Cassirer on Kant and W. v. Humboldt on Language: “Die Freiheit und Selbständigkeit des geistigen Tuns”
- Chapter 10Anthropology and the Deaf and Dumb
- Chapter 11Not Those Who “All Speak with Pictures”
- Chapter 12Like Entering a Bright Room?
- Chapter 13Kant and the Moral Challenges of Rhetoric
- Chapter 14Kant’s Inferentialism
- Chapter 15Was Kant an Expressivist?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Kant is often cited by contemporary expressivists as an early proponent of expressivism. But that association remains controversial. In this chapter, I consider whether Kant is best read as an expressivist, focusing on his account of practical thought and language. In doing so, I present a variety of reasons for thinking that Kant’s views are similar in central respects to contemporary forms of expressivism. But I also argue that there are good reasons for the Kantian to resist any such assimilation – reasons for them to think that Kant’s view is not a form of expressivism, but something better than it.
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- Kant on Language , pp. 275 - 294Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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