Immanuel Kant · Philosophy
Kant’s ringing call for intellectual maturity - ‘dare to know!’ - defining Enlightenment as humanity’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity into the courageous use of one’s own reason.
In 1784, answering the question ‘What is Enlightenment?’, Kant gave one of the most ringing and influential statements of the Enlightenment ideal. Enlightenment, he declared, is humanity’s emergence from its self-imposed immaturity - the immaturity of relying on others (authorities, traditions, institutions) to think for us, rather than daring to use our own reason. And the motto of Enlightenment is Sapere aude! - ‘Dare to know!’ or ‘Have the courage to use your own understanding!’ Enlightenment is the courageous use of one’s own reason - daring to think for oneself, to question, to use one’s own understanding, rather than passively accepting what authorities and traditions dictate. This ringing call - to dare to know, to have the courage to use one’s own reason, to emerge from the immaturity of relying on others to think for us - is one of the most influential statements of the Enlightenment ideal of intellectual courage, autonomy, and maturity.
Kant emphasised that enlightenment requires freedom - specifically, the freedom to make public use of one’s reason. Kant distinguished the public use of reason (one’s use of reason as a scholar addressing the reading public, the whole world of readers - which should be entirely free) from the private use of reason (one’s use of reason in a particular civic post or office, where one may be required to follow instructions). The public use of reason - addressing the reading public as a scholar, freely expressing one’s thoughts and reasonings on matters of common concern - must be entirely free, for it is through this free public use of reason (open debate, the free expression and exchange of ideas among the reading public) that enlightenment spreads and humanity progresses toward maturity. The freedom of the public use of reason - the freedom to express one’s thoughts freely to the public, to engage in open debate, to participate in the free exchange of ideas - is essential to enlightenment, for it is through free public debate and the exchange of ideas that humanity reasons its way toward truth, enlightenment, and maturity. Kant thus made the freedom of the public use of reason - the freedom of open debate and the free exchange of ideas - central to enlightenment.
Kant’s answer to ‘What is Enlightenment?’ gives one of the most ringing and influential expressions of the Enlightenment ideal - the ideal of intellectual courage, autonomy, and maturity; of daring to think for oneself, to question, to use one’s own reason; of emerging from the immaturity of relying on others to think for us into the maturity of intellectual self-governance. This ideal - ‘dare to know,’ think for yourself, use your own reason, question authority and tradition, achieve intellectual autonomy and maturity - is at the heart of the Enlightenment and of the modern ideal of the autonomous, critical, self-governing mind. It calls us to intellectual courage (daring to think for ourselves, to question, against the comfort of accepting what we are told), intellectual autonomy (governing our own thinking by our own reason, not by external authority), and intellectual maturity (emerging from the immaturity of relying on others to think for us). It is a ringing call to the courageous use of our own reason - to dare to know, to think for ourselves, to achieve the intellectual autonomy and maturity that enlightenment requires. Kant’s ‘What is Enlightenment?’ remains one of the most influential and inspiring expressions of this ideal - the ideal of the autonomous, critical, courageous, self-governing mind, daring to think for itself.
This is the opening of the lesson. The rest — the dialogue, the primary source, and the recall — is in the app.
You learned that Kant defined Enlightenment as humanity’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity through the courageous use of one’s own reason. Explain his ideal of enlightenment and the public use of reason, in your own words.
Leads to Jürgen Habermas.
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