Repetitio Sententiarum, Repetitio Verborum : Kant, Hamann, and the Implications of Citation

Through a careful comparison of the citational practices of Immanuel Kant and Johann Georg Hamann, I aim to divulge salient distinctions that should contribute to, and complicate our understanding of, the Enlightenment project. To this end, I begin the present article with an investigation of Kant's famous gambit in his response to the question “Was ist Aufklärung?” and subsequently trace its links to the philosopher's earlier engagement with his Königsberg neighbor regarding the proposed collaboration to compose a physics textbook for children. What emerges from this investigation is a revealing and, at times, confounding network of citations, primarily from Horace, which serve to test the limits of critical discourse. At stake is a redefinition of eighteenth‐century language theory that takes into consideration crucial positions on the meaning and value of metaphysics, theology, and human nature.