Civility, Enlightenment, and Society: Conceptual Confusions and Kantian Remedies

Critics of what is called the “Enlightenment project” have argued that it has been responsible for a number of current social pathologies. At the same time, the term “civil society” has been used to designate those patterns of solidarity that the Enlightenment project allegedly disrupts. This article (1) argues that characterizations of the Enlightenment project tend to be elusive and historically questionable, (2) suggests that the concept of civil society is ambiguous in both its object and its intent, (3) explores how Kant provided a more rigorous account of the relationship between enlightenment and civil society, an account which rests on a contrast between civil and cosmopolitan society, and (4) considers some of the difficulties that plague attempts to define “civility” as a virtue.