What is Enlightenment?
By: Caitlin Warner
Before we discuss what enlightenment
means to Immanuel Kant, let's first discuss who he was. Kant was born on April
22nd, 1724 in what is known today as Kaliningrad, Russia. However,
back in Kant’s day it was named Königsberg and was the capital of Prussia. He
was the 4th of 9 children, but the eldest surviving child of 5, and
the only child to obtain an education. Kant began college in 1740 at the University
of Königsberg as a theological student, but later
became drawn to mathematics and physics. After graduating he became a tutor,
and 15 years later he was appointed to the chair of logic and mathematics. Kant
was a German-speaking philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers.
His thorough and methodical works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics
have made him one the most influential figures in modern Western philosophy. He
embodied new trends which originally began with rationalism (stressing reason) by
René Descartes and empiricism (stressing experience) by Francis Bacon. Kant
passed away on February 12th, 1804 in Königsberg. During his lifetime Kant published several essays, but in 1784 “Answering
the Question: What is Enlightenment?” was a published essay. Let’s imagine that
we are back in Königsberg, Prussia during the year 1784 and are having a discussion
with Immanuel Kant about his interpretation of Enlightenment:
“Kant, what exactly is
Enlightenment?” the student asked.
“Enlightenment is a man’s emergence
from his self-imposed nonage,” replied Kant.
The student enquired, “Nonage?
Whatever is nonage?”
“Nonage is the ability to use one’s
own understanding without another’s guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its
cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in indecision and lack of courage
to use one’s own mind without another’s guidance,” responded Kant.
“So, what you mean to tell me is
that nonage is like being underage, not literally but more like intellectual
immaturity,” the student answered.
“Yes! You’re catching on. Almost as
though every thought that ever comes into their brain had originated from
somewhere else. This is a state of nonage.” Kant declared.
Questioning this, the student
wonders, “How does one avoid this state of nonage?”.
“Have the courage to use your own
understanding,” Kant explains.
“But Kant, this goes directly against
what the bible tells us to do… we must trust him with everything we do,”
muttered the student.
“Enlightenment places itself
against these authorities, I believe it keeps people in a state of nonage.
Laziness and cowardness are the reasons why such a large part of mankind gladly
remains minors all their lives, long after nature has freed them from external
guidance,” argues Kant.
“There appears to be a large
emphasis on nature and the natural order of things, am I correct in saying that?”
the student responded.
“There most definitely is,” stated Kant.
Immanuel Kant believed that the world had turned people into
individuals other than what nature had originally intended us to be. He
believed this was caused by institutional structures that hold people back
(religious and secular).
“They
are the reason why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as guardians.
It is so comfortable to be a minor. If I have a book that thinks for me, a
pastor who acts as my conscious, a physician who prescribes my diet, and so on,
then I have no need to exert myself. I have no need to think. If I can only pay,
others will take care of the disagreeable business for me,” Kant declared.
The
student replies, “That’s an excellent point, we do have a lot of people telling
us what to think, believe, and do.”
“Thus,
it is very difficult for the individual to work themselves out of nonage, which
has become second nature to him, and they have even become to like it. At first,
they are really incapable of using his own understanding because he has never
been permitted to try it,” Kant explains.
“Basically,
nonage is something that is conditioned? Is it similar to Plato’s story of the
cave dwellers?” questions the student.
Kant
responds, “Exactly!”
“Then
what is necessary for enlightenment?” asks the student.
“The public can enlighten itself indeed if it is only given freedom. Enlightenment
is almost inevitable. Enlightenment requires nothing but freedom and the most
innocent of all that may be called freedom; freedom to make public use of one’s
reason in all matters.” Kant responds.
“Or in
other words, freedom to express yourself and what you’re thinking in public,” the
student says.
“That’s
right,” Kant replies
“Well,
then which restrictions are harmful to enlightenment? Which ones are innocent?
And are there restrictions that advance enlightenment?” The student inquires.
Kant explains,
“The public use of one’s reason must be free at all times and this alone can
bring enlightenment to mankind.”
“Are we
now living in an enlightened age?” asks the student.
“No, but
we live in an age of enlightenment. As matters now stand it is still far from
true that men are already capable of using their own reasons and religious
matter confidently and correctly without external guidance. Still, we have some
obvious indications that the field of working toward the goal of religious truth
is now opened. What is more, is the hindrances against general enlightenment or
the emergence from self-imposed nonage are gradually diminishing. In this
respect, this is the age of the enlightenment,” Kant details.
Many people
back in 1784, and still to this day live in a state of nonage by blindly following
without question, and that these institutional structures hold us back from
truly being free. Kant argues in his essay that people are individuals who by
nature have the sacred right to be free, think freely, and decide the course
of their own life. That we must think for ourselves and to trust our own
capacity to judge and understand things. We must be able to trust ourselves
because nature has given us the intellectual capacity to be free.
Work Cited
Duignan, Brian. “Immanuel Kant”, Britannica,
25 April 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Immanuel-Kant/The-Critique-of-Practical-Reason
Sutherland, Joan. “Everything is
Enlightenment”, Lions Roar, 25 April 2021, https://www.lionsroar.com/everything-is-enlightenment/
“Enlightenment”, Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy, 25 April 2021, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/enlightenment/
Presented Midterm:3/11
Posted Midterm essay: 3/11
That's an astute connection, between Kant's notion of enlightenment and Plato's cavedwellers. Plato's "light" symbolizes a certain metaphysical view of other-worldly eternal Ideas (etc.) which I think we're free to set aside, in order to make that connection: it's about breaking free from self-imposed ignorance, convention, and a profound lack of curiosity. In that way, light just is the will to grow up. More fundamentally, it's the will to grow and learn. And think.
ReplyDeleteDr. Oliver,
ReplyDeleteThank you for expanding on that!