Immanuel Kants An Answer to the Question What

Immanuel Kant’s An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? CVSP 203 Dr. Nadia Bou Ali

Kaspar Hauser by Werner Herzog (1974) https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=C 9 uq. Pe. IY Mik

What is Enlightenment? (1784) • Think for ourselves • Think from the standpoint of everyone else • Think always consistently – understanding+ judgment= maxim of reason

The Parallax View of Enlightenment Critique versus Reflection: Diego Velázquez’ Les Meninas (1656) and Rene Magritte’s The Human Condition (1933) painting as window and not as mirror, thought is not mere representation

Dreams of a Visionary “Formerly, I viewed human common sense only from the standpoint of my own; now I put myself into the position of another’s reason outside of myself, and observe my judgments, together with their most secret causes, from the point of view of others. It is true that the comparison of both observations results in pronounced parallax, but it is the only means of preventing the optical delusion, and of putting the concept of the power of knowledge in human nature into its true place. ”

Enlightenment not only as an image of Light but of speech and discourse: (selections from Kant’s What is Enlightenment? ) Enlightenment is mankind’s exit from self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to make use of one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. I have a book that has understanding for me, a pastor who has a conscience for me, a doctor who judges my diet for me, and so forth, surely I do not need to trouble myself. I have no need to think, if only I can pay; others will take over the tedious business for me. Those guardians, who have graciously taken up the oversight of mankind, take care that the far greater part of mankind (including the entire fairer sex) regard the step to maturity as not only difficult but also very dangerous.

Oedipus and the Sphinx, Gustave Moreau , 1864