Cook

Summary

Dominique Pagani mentions James Cook only in passing, and always in connection with Kant, whose contemporary he points out Cook was. He names him among the great navigators of that period1. He presents him as the English explorer of the southern world and the discoverer of the South Seas2, at the time of the discoveries in Oceania. He uses this connection to shed light on one feature of Kant's thought: the prestige of spatial metaphors3. For him, the navigators contemporary with Kant are a source of geographical metaphors4. Cook's name comes up between 2017 and 2026 in sessions on very different subjects: a reading of Nerval, Greek mythology, Popper, the question of evil, the relation between nature and freedom. He devotes no study of his own to him. Cook serves him as a historical landmark, placing Kant in the age of the great maritime explorations and explaining where some of his images come from.

1. 1From Copernicus to Lenin: revolution!28 Aug 2026 · 46:33
2. 2Nature vs. freedom?8 Oct 2026 · 37:21
3. 3#4.3 Angélique (by Nerval)11 Dec 2017 · 51:04
4. 4Evil, or the “unknowing” of the self2 Dec 2024 · 50:03

Summary produced automatically from 6 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.