Frédéric Worms and Immanuel Kant

The article examines the reception of Kantian ideas within the theoretical framework of an influential contemporary French philosopher. In the current philosophical landscape, references to Kant by various scholars are typically justified by both historical and theoretical considerations. Professor Frédéric Worms, Director of the École Normale Supérieure, while not identifying as a Kantian, endeavors to refine his portrayal of thinkers and epochs through nuanced details, within which Kant’s philosophy occupies a significant position. For instance, Worms illustrates the period of French philosophical history associated with the problem of spirit by referencing, among other sources, the intellectual legacy of Henri Bergson. Worms methodically unfolds the Bergsonian universe, frequently appealing to Kantian ideas: specifically, he elucidates Bergson’s concept of experience by contrasting it with Kantian critique, understood as a restriction to possible experience, and highlights the divergence in the two thinkers’ interpretations of space. When discussing the question of existence in philosophical history, Worms juxtaposes Kant and Sartre. It is not coincidental that the preeminent existentialist titled one of his principal works Critique of Dialectical Reason. According to Worms, Sartre is not parodying his predecessor but rather undertaking, in the spirit of criticism, a project within which it becomes impossible to address objects without analyzing the subject. While Kant rejected the cognizability of the thing-in-itself, Sartre attempted to circumvent historically deterministic laws imposed by necessity, which would otherwise subsume any possibility of freedom. Addressing contemporary trends and debates within philosophical discourse, Worms emphasizes the importance of reinterpreting classical texts, which, under transformed intellectual conditions, can generate unexpected yet productive associations and hypotheses. In this context, Kant’s intellectual legacy functions as a source of creative inspiration and authoritative concepts responsive to contemporary demands, while simultaneously remaining an object of critical reflection.