Abstract

This paper develops a criticism of Kant’s transcendentalism, claiming that his idea of reason fails to take into account the Darwinian continuum linking higher mammals and human primates. At the same time, Kant’s ontology and epistemology fail to consider the fact that humans are the product of the contingent yet irreversible linguistic, cultural, and Intentional (written with capital “I”) configuration of their form of life. The author favors pragmatism as a viable alternative, and draws upon John Dewey’s epistemic compromise (“warranted assertibility”), suggesting that we can reduce doubt about the objectivity of our cognitive beliefs without actually attempting to reach indubitable truth. On these grounds, the paper argues against the “compartmentalization” of art with respect to politics, morality, and normativity.