Die andere, die poetische Aufklärung – Flasch und Gumbrecht über Voltaire und Diderot

Kurt Flasch and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht seem to develop a convergent thesis in their two latest books: Voltaire and Diderot are presented as two examples of what could be called the »other Enlightenment«. Both Voltaire and Diderot present their thinking in a poetic and rhetorically elaborated style. Not »pure reason«, but impure reasoning is what they practise. This »other Enlightenment« is more playful, cheerful and serene. Whereas Kurt Flasch claims to just reconstruct an important chapter in the history of ideas, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht explicitly proposes to view Diderot as the philosopher of the 21st century. Contingency turns out to be the central concept for both Diderot and our time, Gumbrecht claims. The process of Modernity however does not simply increase unpredictability, but – at the same time – predictability.

Kurt Flasch: Christentum und Aufklärung: Voltaire gegen Pascal. Frankfurt a. M. 2020: Vittorio Klostermann. 436 S. – Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht: »Prosa der Welt«: Denis Diderot und die Peripherie der Aufklärung. Aus dem amerikanischen Englisch übersetzt von Michael Bischoff. Berlin 2020: Suhrkamp. 400 S.