In order to elucidate the meaning of the term “enlightenment,” I wish to turn to a famous essay by Immanuel Kant, originally published in Berlinische Monatsschrift in December 1784, “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” In this essay Kant, one of the great philosophers of European enlightenment, defines enlightenment as “Man’s emergence form a self-imposed immaturity.” An enlightened man for Kant was “one who had the courage to use his own understanding. This means one is competent to do one’s own independent thinking.
Kant was seeking to liberate human reason from the shackles of stagnant religious traditions that had deprived humanity of the freedom to use reason. He lamented the fact that, due to indolence and cowardice, a great proportion of humanity remained in a state of immaturity and subcontracted their thinking and faculties of judgment to others. For Kant, immaturity was the inability of an individual to rely on one’s own understanding. Kant argued further that society could come out of such a state only if “people had the courage and freedom to use reason publicly in all matters.”
Maturity and enlightenment at one level means simply living in our times. Therefore, se have to escape the prisons of past authorities and past achievements and focus on our task at hand. Very simply, we must grow up and take responsibility. Be enlightened and act mature. To achieve this noble end we need to encourage in every possible manner, the confidence that we are
capable of understanding and realizing a culture of tolerance for those who have the courage to think.
