A Public Project
I'd like to organise a copyleft translation of Kant's essay What is Enlightenment, for publication on the internet, and possibly in print.
I'd do it myself, but many hands make light work, and my German is pretty much non-existent. So does anyone feel like helping?
The essay itself is non-technical, and short (about 20 pages); it is incredibly important as a document, I think, and it could help make it more difficult for people (no names) to make inappropriate, even fatuous, use of the concept of Enlightenment.
I'd do it myself, but many hands make light work, and my German is pretty much non-existent. So does anyone feel like helping?
The essay itself is non-technical, and short (about 20 pages); it is incredibly important as a document, I think, and it could help make it more difficult for people (no names) to make inappropriate, even fatuous, use of the concept of Enlightenment.
posted by Dan Hind at 6:22 AM
4 Comments:
Why would you do that, given the existence of several internet translations already, e.g
http://philosophy.eserver.org/kant/what-is-enlightenment.txt
?
Good question, Captain. I've asked the editor there if we can use theirs as a basis. The aim is to have something that anyone can freely reproduce or re-work at will. Not sure if their version is free in that sense.
tried emailing you and it bounced; hence the post:
Dear Dan Hind
Hi. I am Anand, publisher of the niche imprint Navayana (www.navayana.org0, from India. Navayana is all set to publish the Indian edition of The Threat to Reason. I hope Giles or someone in Verso told you this before I just did!
I picked your book at the London Book Fair last year, which I managed to visit thanks to some facilitation by the British Council. How BC is in some ways enabling me to publish you (and other Verso authors) in India can be learnt by clicking http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature-iypy-2007.htm.
I will be in London, 1 to 17 April. Maybe we could meet? I will be placed with Verso for a week, and then have a stall at LBF this year. I wonder if you have heard of Ambedkar and encountered his ideas. He was one of the few pre-independence figures in India who reinterpreted the Enlightenment values for an Indian context; towards the end of his life he fused it with Buddhist ideas. (Ambedkar was a radical compared to, say, Gandhi, -- now a mascot of pomo academics.) Navayana in fact derives its name from the kind of unique Buddhism Ambedkar wrought. I wonder if you have read the work of Meera Nanda, especially her Prophets Facing Backwards. We had published a small tract by her, and are going to publish another of her books, God and Globalisation.
Looking forward to a reply
Anand
Tried reaching you on email and it bounced; hence this post...
Dear Dan Hind
Hi. I am Anand, publisher of the niche imprint Navayana, from India. Navayana is all set to publish the Indian edition of The Threat to Reason. I hope Giles or someone in Verso told you this before I just did!
I picked your book at the London Book Fair last year, which I managed to visit thanks to some facilitation by the British Council. How BC is in some ways enabling me to publish you (and other Verso authors) in India can be learnt by clicking here.
I will be in London, 1 to 17 April. Maybe we could meet? I will be placed with Verso for a week, and then have a stall at LBF this year. I wonder if you have heard of Ambedkar and encountered his ideas. He was one of the few pre-independence figures in India who reinterpreted the Enlightenment values for an Indian context; towards the end of his life he fused it with Buddhist ideas. (Ambedkar was a radical compared to, say, Gandhi, -- now a mascot of pomo academics.) Navayana in fact derives its name from the kind of unique Buddhism Ambedkar wrought. I wonder if you have read the work of Meera Nanda, especially her Prophets Facing Backwards. We had published a small tract by her, and are going to publish another of her books, God and Globalisation.
Looking forward to a reply
Anand
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature-iypy-2007.htm
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