Freedom and Democracy: From Kant to Derrida

Abstract

The notion of freedom is synonymous with Kant, but where is it located, and what is the significance of its location for our understanding of democracy today? In this essay, an answer will be sought to these questions by way of Heidegger’s reading of Kant in The Essence of Human Freedom, followed by an exploration of Derrida’s radicalization of Heidegger’s reading in Rogues. If “freedom” is located beyond Being, as contended by both Heidegger and Derrida, a re-naming thereof is perhaps called for, a renaming, which would at the same time allow us to look beyond the variety of forms taken by democracy today, toward the democracy to come, which would no longer be characterized by mastery, sovereignty, and power, but instead by a welcoming of the unforeseeable and incalculable event.