VUK I KANT: ŠTA JE TO PROSVEĆENOST?
Vuk and Kant: What is enlightenment?

Summary/Abstract: V. S. Karadžić‘s legacy was often interpreted in the light of its relationship with different intellectual movements at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century: Romanticism, Sturm und Drang, Enlightenment, Rationalism, Empiricism - to name just a few. Boundaries between these movements and their in- terpretation were not without ambiguities and uncertainties. Also, it was hard to discern Vuk’s unambiguous stance towards them. Enlightenment was sometimes implied or questioned as part of his legacy, as much as the stereotypical image of Vuk as romantic gained importance. However, Vuk’s Letters provide traces for reconstruction of his worldview and its relationship with the Epoch of Enlightenment - as Kant described his epoch in the famous text from 1784. A comparative reading of this programmatic text (Answering to the Question: What is Enlightenment?) and selection from Vuk‘s Letters points to some unexpected similarities between Kant‘s and Vuk‘s respective positions regarding matters of subjective autonomy and the use of common sense in the public sphere as a necessary medium in which the development of enlightenment is only possible.

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