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Reasoning with the Exclusionary Other: Classical Scenes for a Postradical Horizon

Thanks to Michel Foucault, one might say it has become possible to conceive that the political relevance of humanity in modern thought does not have to do with its “philosophical essence” but rather with its “nonessence.” Yet this very idea surfaced earlier in Western thought, at the time of the revolutionary turn towards a politicized humanitarianism, and helped to shape some crucial political strategies making up modern liberal democracy. Its potential eluded even Foucault. I contend that tracing the contours of this classical, if long unthinkable idea, can inform our response to the other of social critique. Against the grain of Enlightenment historiography, my suggestion will be that it was not Jean-Jacques Rousseau but Denis Diderot who managed to convey the self-evidence of humanity as a political question for the first time and in a way that was far from inconsequential. From his authoritative editorial position, Diderot helped to make the European sense of humanity into an actual reform movement rather than just a moral value, symbol of civility, religious quality, or philosophical debate. But as