World literature ... Immanuel Kant argues in What is Enlightenment? that “enligh

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World literature ...

Immanuel Kant argues in What is Enlightenment? that “enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.” He essentially states that people are trapped in immaturity not because a lack of intelligence, but a lack of courage. How does Kant define enlightenment throughout this text? What ideas does Kant reject? How might critics find fault with his utopian (i.e. idealistic, perfect) idea of a fully enlightened age?
World literature ...

Immanuel Kant argues in What is Enlightenment? that “enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.” He essentially states that people are trapped in immaturity not because a lack of intelligence, but a lack of courage. How does Kant define enlightenment throughout this text? What ideas does Kant reject? How might critics find fault with his utopian (i.e. idealistic, perfect) idea of a fully enlightened age?
World literature ...

Explanation / Answer

Kant stated that enlightenment is related to what a person achieves when he or she is free from immaturity which is caused to them. Immaturity here is referred to as the inability to think on their own and depend on the opinions of the people for making decisions. It also states that immaturity makes it impossible for people to make judgment and understand things properly. Here immaturity is related to the dependency done has on others for acting and thinking on their own. There is analogy derived from the governments influence on the people who are trained like animals to obey orders. He placed importance on freedom for the society to be enlightened and explain how freedom needs to be exercised in an effective manner. When there is strong expression by people in public forums then the decisions will be influenced by the thoughts in an effective manner

This theory is related to a time when monarchy was prevalent and he thought of revolutions as counterproductive as old ideas are constantly replaced by new ones. There is a view that there is freedom and this is either extended by the current government or focused on new principles. The critiques pointed out that the theory is not applicable at a today's time. Also it was outed out to be problematic

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