German idealism legitimated knowledge by unifying truth and justice in a single subject

Evidence

However, the unification of these two sets of discourse is indispensable to the Bildung aimed for by Humboldt’s project, which consists not only in the acquisition of learning by individuals, but also in the training of a fully legitimated subject of knowledge and society. Humboldt therefore invokes a Spirit (what Fichte calls Life), animated by three ambitions, or better, by a single, threefold aspiration: “that of deriving everything from an original principle” (corresponding to scientific activity), “that of relating everything to an ideal” (governing ethical and social practice), and “that of unifying this principle and this ideal in a single Idea” (ensuring that the scientific search for true causes always coincides with the pursuit of just ends in moral and political life). This ultimate synthesis constitutes the legitimate subject. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 268

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines the speculative metanarrative that Lyotard says the postmodern condition renders incredible.
• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer’s Kant studies taught him individuality’s value and the unity of knowledge and ethics — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 198; Neumann grounded legal criticism in natural law’s normative rationality — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 469; German idealism located the subject of knowledge in a speculative System, not the State — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 269 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• German idealism located the subject of knowledge in a speculative System, not the State #qualifies (0.85) — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 269
• Merging knowledge and being avoids relativism only if a single unified human subject exists #expands (0.78) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2751
• Subjectivity and objectivity form a dialectical unity in knowledge #expands (0.75) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 83
• Pure knowledge without a viewpoint is self-contradictory #contradicts (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 836
• Advanced societies conflate knowledge with decision-competence and truth with power #contradicts (0.72) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 634
• Power and knowledge mutually constitute and imply one another #complicates (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 75