On Immanuel Kant’s Enlightenment


           Kant had an interesting perspective for his time. Enlightenment, as he saw it, was more release from a self-inflicted need for another to guide your thought. The opposite of enlightenment was the need for someone to hold your hand, intellectually, morally, ethically, and religiously. In fact, he alluded the cause of un-enlightenment to be none other than lack of resolution—the will to act. That’s what a loose translation of “Sapere aude” may suggest—"Dare to think for yourself!”
           
This view is rather “enlightening”. Think reflectively. Where have we fallen prey to this self-incurred disease ourselves? Maybe in morality, where we treat others as society says, instead of what God and conscience commands; maybe in education, where we ingest every lecture without a second thought to how it corresponds to reality; or rather, maybe in religion, where we believe what a person may say about God, no matter how heretical, and agree with what heinous acts someone may commit, while still bearing the name Christian and Christ-follower. People who are enlightened shouldn’t follow the pace; they should set it. You see, enlightenment is not an abandonment of culture for an anarchous individuality, but rather a guide that probes and prods us along in our journey to knowledge, to find what the soul longs for—truth. I can't wait to see how "enlightened" the Honors family is by the end of the year!






I commented on Addison's and Mary Emma's blogs.

Comments

Anna Gay said…
"People who are enlightened shouldn't follow the pace; they should set it." Wow, I love that! It is a call above and beyond. It reminds me of what this university stands for and what the honors program represents. We are to do next level work and next level thinking. Don't rely on other people to spoon feed you the facts, figure it out for yourself! Great blog!!