What is Enlightenment?

     The enlightenment, an intellectual movement in eighteenth century Europe celebrated human reason and scientific thought as the instrument of liberation from the superstition and ignorance inherited from the past. The period believed that man, at his best, was a reasonable creature committed to a reasonable activity of understanding the world, the creation of a reasonable creator. This essay is a response from the side of Kant to the question “What is Enlightenment?”
     Kant says that enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Accordig to Kant, the prerequisite to get freedom is courage to defy. “Have courage to use your own reason” is the motto of enlightenment. When a person becomes mere servile adaptor of tradition he or she cannot exercise his/her faculty of reason. So it is necessary to exercise mind to get release from tutelage. In this essay, Kant has given examples of self-incurved tutelage or bondages.
(a) External bondages: Political, legal and environmental.
(b) Internal bondages: Ignorance, laziness, cowardice etc.
     Kant says were cannot dismantle the external bondage in great extremity whereas internal bondages can be changed. Enlightenment is to eradicate internal bondages totally. Kant here has given some examples of tutelages. If we have to decide which diet should we take then we simply follow the prescription of a doctor. If we have to know regarding some ethical issues we tend to go to clergy, similarly we tend to follow the teacher to know something. Hence, humanity tend to move by other’s dictation without using reason which according to Kant is a impediment to be enlightened. He says that freedom is absolutely necessary for enlightenment but full-fledzed freedom is hardly found as there are so many mechanisms to restrict absolute freedom. Kant further says all restrictions are not harmful. Some restrictions are even necessary for enlightenment. He categorizes two types of reasoning.
(1) Private use of reasoning: which should be restricted
(2) Public use of reasoning: which should be free.
     Private use of reason is applied when people are in civil post, or office, community and so many other institution. At times a person must abide with prescribed limitations of office, community and other social institutions. For example, if we are employee in an office we must obey the boss, if we are citizen of the state, we must pay tax, as a religious person he or she should follow the ecclesiastical parameters. But where people are in public, they are, they can comment upon taxation, criticize the boss and utilize their own reason. Public use of reason is that kind of reason which is utilized as a scholar, as a critic, as a philosopher unlike private use of reason.
     Kant says we are in the era of Prince Frederick II, whichc is the era of enlightenment. He has allowed people, Kant says all freedom in terms of legal, political and religious matter. So people are under the guardianship of Prince Frederick, who has given a complete freedom to the people so as to utilize reason in the matter of conscience. Actually, Kant here is in favour of monarchy, as he says in Republic system all the freedoms are curtailed. “Aruge as much as you will, only obey!” A republic could not dare to say such a thing.

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