Immanuel Kant's Lack Of Enlightenment

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Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher in the 18th century, composed an essay titled “What is Enlightenment” in 1784, which discusses why there is a lack of enlightenment in the world and what needs to occur to achieve enlightenment in the lives of everyone. Kant believes that enlightenment is accomplished when a man releases himself from depending on the opinions of others and then becomes capable of fully making his own decisions. He then expands on this further by stating that individuals need to “Have courage to use your own reason!”, meaning an individual must be past the stage of immaturity and be fully capable of having courage and being independent for others. Kant then addresses what may happen to immature individuals whom are not enlightened. These people are effortlessly influenced by others so much that they will have an increased difficulty when attempting to compose their own opinions, actions, and thoughts. In order to explain his beliefs, he utilizes an analogy to portray how much influence the government has on the lives of its …show more content…

He begins to criticize the way that the church is set up and states that many things such as religion are limited. Clergy is expected to teach the beliefs and curriculum of the church as it is, regardless if they actually believe it or not without allowing further discussion. However, as scholars, if they should also provide criticisms when appropriate. He believes that in order for an individual to be free, they must also not be afraid to express their thoughts that have the potential to help its society. With this, the clergy is required to abide by the societal laws while also being fully capable of critiquing the church as a scholar. Without following the laws of any society, enlightenment will never be capable of being fully

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