What is it about?
One of my professors, now deceased, once observed that in Latvia Immanuel Kant enjoys a kind of mythic standing, albeit a harmless one. Although Kant is connected to the territory of Latvia by many threads, my professor believed that insufficient effort has been devoted to cultivating and sustaining these connections. In this article, we attempt to address this issue, if only modestly, by reflecting on developments over the past two decades.
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Why is it important?
In the nineteenth century, there were several philosophers’ streets, alleys, and paths on the territory of present-day Latvia; I believe these also alluded to Kant. Today, only a few of these names have survived. Nevertheless, historical heritage continues to assume new forms. In 2021, two apartment buildings were constructed in Riga, one named Herder and the other Hamann. Meanwhile, the legend of Kant’s visit to Liepāja has become part of the city’s narrative as a European Capital of Culture for 2027.
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This page is a summary of: Kant’s intellectual heritage in the public spaces of Latvia, Studies in East European Thought, December 2025, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s11212-025-09813-y.
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