Voltaire Vs Kant

According to Immanuel Kant, getting rid of one’s self-imposed immaturity, along with freedom, is the key to achieving enlightenment. Voltaire believed the enlightenment was inevitable, but stressed the importance of religious acceptance. Comparatively, the two thinkers offer similar points in regardance to their individual thoughts, but differ in whether or not the enlightenment is actually inevitable. Kant begins his response to the question, “what is enlightenment?”, by writing, “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity” (Kant). He goes onto further define “immaturity”, saying that to be immature is to not possess the courage to understand by oneself. For instance, one with immaturity, in Kant’s eyes, would be a person who listens to the guidance of others and refuses to understand ideas or concepts by themself. Being lazy and conforming to others understandings are reasons that prevent people from achieving enlightenment. Thus, one prerequisite Kant requires in order for one to achieve enlightenment is to own the ability to understand by oneself. …show more content…
However, Kant divides reason into two different sectors: public and private. Public reason, Kant writes, “must always be free, and it alone can bring enlightenment among” (Kant). An example Kant uses is that of a scholar: one who must inform the public of his understanding freely, as it is within his title. Private reason, contrastingly, is more restricted, but does not hinder the process of enlightenment. For example, one must pay their taxes -- it is a law no private individual can escape justly. With that being said, Kant believed enlightenment was achievable by using one’s own understanding, and exercising the rights of one’s