Essay on Immanuel Kant: German Philosopher, Father of Modern Philosophy

Introduction

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher in the history of modern philosophy. He is renowned for his central figure in contemporary philosophy. Immanuel synthesized mostly on early modern empiricism and rationalism. He even set terms for much of the twentieth-century philosophy. He is best known for his continuing significant influence in major fields such as aesthetics, metaphysics, political philosophy, epistemology, and ethics. He made the motto of enlightenment that says that one should have the courage to use, trust, and rely on their understanding. Immanuel Kant gave various views that touched on his understanding and interpretation of enlightenment, immaturity, and the conditions necessary for human beings to express themselves with dignity. According to Immanuel Kant, the lack of enlightenment is caused by immaturity. That immaturity is caused by fear and laziness. It fuels is the lack of freedom, especially when it comes to the public.

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What is Enlightenment? Immanuel Kant

According to Immanuel Kant, enlightenment refers to man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage or immaturity. Nonage is when one cannot use his understanding without other persons' guidance. Nonage is self-incurred, and it is founded on one's indecision or the lack of courage to use their minds without another person's guidance. The nonage is not considered self-inflicted if its basis lies in one's lack of understanding. As such, enlightenment entails having the courage to use an individual's reasoning, which implies daring to know. Nonage is said to be self-imposed because one lacks the courage and confidence to rely on his or her mind. People believe that for something to be successful, they have to have another person's guidance to do something. It is mainly not a lack of understanding, but indecision.

To be free and have the guts to make relevant and valid decisions, one needs to avoid laziness and cowardice. Cowardice suppresses confidence, and once the belief is crushed, there's no way you'd have the courage. The reason is that you have to be extremely sure or confident about it for one to have courage. When situations get to this extent, one set themselves and make themselves have a guardian or a helper. The guardian dictates and determines all the steps and everything that anyone involves. The problem is that dependence makes the individual grow into liking it and finally absorbing it. One gets to a position where he or she is incapable of making his or her own decisions. Not because they can't but because they've not permitted themselves to give it a try. They can't firmly stand by what they understand.

Due to the dignity, respect, and worth of rational people, individuals get tied to dogmas, formulas, and easy answers. Everything that is provided by experts and authorities is taken to be the yoke of tutelage. Unfortunately, even if people who believe in such stuff are unhooked from the tendency, the individuals would still be accustomed to freedom of thought. In most cases, they would always easily prey on new prejudices. They do not have the strength to stand out and try to think.

The world has three groups of people about this. There are the few enlightened people, there is the group that has guardians watching over them, and there's a group of extremely unenlightened people. The third group is mainly unenlightened because, as we earlier stated, they have fear and laziness. The power that the guardians have over the people is not by force. It is mainly out of the free will, because of the rules, laws, convections, and tenets of behavior.

What does Kant mean by being "immature"?

According to Immanuel Kant, being immature involves a man's inability to make use of his understanding without guidance from another. Immaturity is self-inflicted when it comes to one's lack of resolution and courage to use their understanding without direction from another person. Conversely, immaturity is not self-incurred when its primary cause is a lack of reason. Immaturity is also not because of lack of understanding, but because of lack or resolution. It is mainly the lack of courage to use and rely on your knowledge. One mistake that most people mistake is to assume that all people who appear to be mature are mature enough, which means that they are capable of dealing with things in their way using their reason and understanding.

Kant outlines the shackles of immaturity as formulas and rules that act as mechanical aids to the misuse or rational use of man's gifts. Man must endeavor to cultivate his mind to pursue a secure course and free himself from immaturity. Immaturity and enlightenment walk hand in hand. For one to be enlightened, they have to start working to eliminate immaturity. Immaturity is caused by fear and lack of wisdom on how to be firm on what one thinks. When one is immature, they have to believe that the only thing something can be successful is via inquiry for a third person's opinion. It is because of the lack of a good reason and intellect that one is considered immature.

Immaturity in public and private is very different. To start with the private part, consider individuals whose life is full of isolation. It is hard to find them to move out of immaturity. The reason being they are already used to their life and have no rooms for attempts. The fear in their life due to being alone for a very long time is unshakable. According to research, it is even close to impossible to find individuals who have successfully pursued a steady path to cultivate themselves out of immaturity. In most cases, for this to work, there must be a stepping stone.

For the public, the escape from immaturity is almost inescapable. But compared to being alone in public, it is easier to be enlightened. The only thing needed is freedom, for example, an individual who works alone and in public. The person who works in public might not be made happy by their places of work. If that's the case, they can express themselves and luckily get a change compared to an individual who works alone like working at home. The person is forced to repeatedly and consistently, regardless of the individuals' comfort.

What is required to become enlightened?

An enlightened person is one who has emerged from their self-incurred immaturity. Such people dare to use their understanding and make resolutions without relying on direction from others. For a person to become enlightened, they must first throw off the yolk of immaturity to become independent thinkers. An individual would have to cast off the rules and dogmas set for reasonable use of man's natural gifts. Although such a step could be coupled with uncertainties, it takes one to a free movement scenario where individuals can rely on their understanding and reasoning to make decisions. As such, the process of enlightenment solely requires the freedom to make public use of one's reason in different matters.

Enlightenment is not hard to find, especially in public sectors. All that is required, according to Kant, for enlightenment is freedom. By freedom, Kant meant that the freedom of choice. Freedom to think whatever anyone wants and make decisions on what the individual wants. The freedom for whatever one wants. It can work mainly with the public. It has to start with the freedom of communication for it to go to the freedom of thought. If you can express what you are thinking openly without fearing judgment or criticism, you create new ideas. Once you speak up an idea, you can think of something else, whether different or an extension of the idea.

It is only via freedom of speech that you can determine the truth. Once you create such a chance, you create independence. Everyone gets a chance to present their ideas and still learn the truth independently. The closer we get to the truth, the easier it becomes to learn the truth. Kant, concerning expression and interpretation of his expression of his freedom, introduced his public use of freedom. That was setting the people free to express themselves freely. Kant said that every person should have the freedom to publish their opinions, arguments, and ideas to the public for discussion and debate.

Lack of freedom is mainly seen in religious places. Most religious leaders combine and merge their desires with the sacred rights of man. Religious leaders seal the fate of the people by using their own will to govern the people. Salvation mainly belongs to God, and their role is to show the way. The judgment work should be left to the Almighty. Most leaders set the rules and conditions that govern the people just to create a reputation. People should have the freedom to choose and determine their salvation according to their tastes and the ways their hearts desire. In religious places, at least freedom of speech and expression should be allowed. They are not just following a specific mnemonic that has been defined by an individual. A person who believes to have the fate of the believers in his hands.

Freedom will bring the revolution that will successfully bring enlightenment in society. It will encourage growth, development, and progress in society as people will have the courage to attempt new things. The fear of attempts leads to redundancy in society. If there is freedom of speech, there's room for the flow of ideas. People can peacefully interact and be ready to learn new things. Age doesn't define maturity or enlightenment.

Conclusion

All in all, Kant interpreted that enlightenment and immaturity are hindered by a lack of freedom, cowardice, and lack of courage. For freedom to work, he also explains that it starts from freedom of communication that eases and directs to freedom of thought. Restriction limits expression that limits enlightenment. In our current world, an enlightened society has a lot of drawbacks attached to it. For it to be successful, it would need a lot of effort to curb the hindrances.