Kant’s Enlightenment Essay a Call to Democratic Thinking

Immanuel Kant’s essay An Answer to the Question: ‘What is Enlightenment?’ is a work that creates a sense of dependence and independence.† The motto of the Enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding.† (Kant 54).Kant plainly tells the audience that we as human beings aren’t able to function in society properly and yet dares us to go out of our comfort zone. Kant presents the problems with society and the people within then encourages the people to better people because Kant knows the potential that each of the people in society holds. Is Kant’s an essay a call to democratic thinking? Kant’s essay dares us to be wise which is a call to go out and be an individual; go into the world and think for you.†¦show more content†¦We have no insight on the future that we live in the here now. â€Å"The motto of the Enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understa nding.† (Kant 54). Most have no understanding that Kant says because they weren’t given the sense to use their own understanding. I feel that Kant dares us to have courage because when he discovered his own understanding he felt a sense of greatness and accomplishment. Kant gives us some encouragement to think beyond the box because he knows that if he can do great things that everyone has the potential to do great things also. â€Å"†¦others will soon enough take the tiresome job over me. The guardians who have kindly taken upon themselves the work of supervision will soon see to it that by far the largest part of mankind should consider the step forward to maturity not only as difficult but also as highly dangerous.† (Kant 54). Thinking controls the mass chaos that could ruin society, yet we only have a few individuals who are truly original thinkers. Others pretend to be true thinker but in true are re-readers. For those of society who are not true thinke rs stepping out of immaturity is a dangerous step to themselves and the ones around them. Most aren’t prepared to step out of their comfort zone because they never were meant to or prepared. The â€Å"guardians† have doubleShow MoreRelatedDid Wordsworth or Coleridge Have Greater Influence on Modern Criticism?8605 Words   |  35 Pagesthe audience, the British Romantics were what we might callexpressive epistemologists, interested in the relationship  between the poem and the poet.   Another different is that whereas the theorists of the last century portray an 18th century or Enlightenment orientation, particularly true in the case of Burke and Kant, as proto- or pre-Romatics, yet still very much interested in reason and analysis.  The Romantics often define themselves in opposition to the Age of Reason.  They borrow some ideas from