I fondamenti concettuali del cosmopolitismo kantiano - pensiero autonomo, egoismo logico e universale ragione umana

This paper aims to present Kant's rethinking of the following ideas of the Enlightenment: autonomous thought, prejudice, and particularly the prejudice of logical egoism, and universal human reason. These ideas turn out to be interrelated: autonomous thought fights prejudice, yet runs the risk of becoming a prejudice itself, namely logical egoism, if it happens to neglect others' point of view. Universal human reason is the anthropological notion underlying this tension between autonomous thought and prejudice, in that it claims for the former (reason is universal, so everybody is entitled to knowledge), but also warns agains the latter (reason is human as well, and therefore exposed to errors).