Name- MAYANK MANGAL
ID No.- 2014A4PS459H
Assignment: Personal Response Essay
Immanuel Kant : An answer to the question: What is Enlightenment
An answer to the question: What is Enlightenment is an essay which was written by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in the year of 1784, the greatest modern philosopher of all times is deeply inspired by Rousseau from where he adopts the novelties of freedom as autonomy or itself legislation. The essay addresses the causes of lack of enlightenment and the preconditions which are necessary to make it possible to enlighten the people. Kant thinks that the people should be given freedom to use their own intellect and he abolished all church and state paternalism. He mainly focused on religious issues, saying that …show more content…
In the essay, he emphasizes on the need for people to use their own powers of understanding and reasoning instead of depending on others or on an external system to provide it to them. This essay is essentially a plea for the vital importance of freedom of speech, thought, and debate. When people use other people to make his decisions, their life becomes much easier. But in this process, Kant argues that it disables them from taking their own decisions with their own intellect and hence people gets ultimately immature. This immaturity becomes second nature to him. He hints in his essay that, only those who are fearless and are capable of cultivating their own minds can escape this immaturity. In this way an individual can become enlightened. Kant adds on that the public has more chance of enlightening itself than an individual enlightenment. His whole argument for this claim rests on the assumption that in a society, there will exist a few who can think for themselves, even amongst higher officials in civil posts. Enlightenment in such cases will be a slow process and freedom becomes a vital necessity for its …show more content…
A clergyman is bound to teach his congregation and pupils the principles and philosophical ideas of the church he serves. However, he cannot teach them his own personal views but can question his own preachings as an individual. As Kant himself says in the essay, restricting down even on this freedom would be cognate to putting a halt on the progress of human society. Human progress is measured in the evolution and propagation of ideas. So Kant says that, to attain enlightenment, obedience is imperative but at the same time it is important to question and criticise whatever the person feels is
ID No.- 2014A4PS459H
Assignment: Personal Response Essay
Immanuel Kant : An answer to the question: What is Enlightenment
An answer to the question: What is Enlightenment is an essay which was written by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in the year of 1784, the greatest modern philosopher of all times is deeply inspired by Rousseau from where he adopts the novelties of freedom as autonomy or itself legislation. The essay addresses the causes of lack of enlightenment and the preconditions which are necessary to make it possible to enlighten the people. Kant thinks that the people should be given freedom to use their own intellect and he abolished all church and state paternalism. He mainly focused on religious issues, saying that …show more content…
In the essay, he emphasizes on the need for people to use their own powers of understanding and reasoning instead of depending on others or on an external system to provide it to them. This essay is essentially a plea for the vital importance of freedom of speech, thought, and debate. When people use other people to make his decisions, their life becomes much easier. But in this process, Kant argues that it disables them from taking their own decisions with their own intellect and hence people gets ultimately immature. This immaturity becomes second nature to him. He hints in his essay that, only those who are fearless and are capable of cultivating their own minds can escape this immaturity. In this way an individual can become enlightened. Kant adds on that the public has more chance of enlightening itself than an individual enlightenment. His whole argument for this claim rests on the assumption that in a society, there will exist a few who can think for themselves, even amongst higher officials in civil posts. Enlightenment in such cases will be a slow process and freedom becomes a vital necessity for its …show more content…
A clergyman is bound to teach his congregation and pupils the principles and philosophical ideas of the church he serves. However, he cannot teach them his own personal views but can question his own preachings as an individual. As Kant himself says in the essay, restricting down even on this freedom would be cognate to putting a halt on the progress of human society. Human progress is measured in the evolution and propagation of ideas. So Kant says that, to attain enlightenment, obedience is imperative but at the same time it is important to question and criticise whatever the person feels is