Immanuel Kant describes Enlightenment as an individual’s ability to understand events and analyze situations based on his own judgements. In other contexts, it can described as an individual’s ability to reason. Kant notes that it is very important for people to free themselves from self-imposed immaturity. He further goes on to describe immaturity as an individual’s inability think and make decisions on their own and as such, they rely on the opinions and judgements of others. This means that the aforementioned folks have no skills of discerning the right action to take whenever they ae encountered with a real life problem.
According to Kant (2013), most people impose immaturity on themselves by allowing others to influence their personal decisions. They become dependent to an extent that they allow colleagues to have the final say in their lives. This reliance goes to a point where it becomes difficult for an individual to think for himself. As a means of proving his point, Kant uses a common analogy of how the government influences its people by providing them with a set of ideas and beliefs to follow without question. In the long run, this adds to their immaturity because they depend on the government for guidance. Kant notes that it is very difficult for individuals to become mature on their own and as such, this makes it hard for them to break out of this trend. For one to leave self-imposed maturity, they must be willing to embrace vigor and fearlessness. Kant’s concept of enlightenment is focused on highlighting the causes of self-imposed tutelage ( Soman, 2016 ). He notes that laziness and cowardice are the main contributors of this state and as such, individuals must do everything in their power to avoid these traits.
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According to Kant (2013), the only way people can achieve enlightenment is through freedom of reasoning. The ability of a person to express himself is very crucial because it determines the way they express thoughts and opinions without any fear or restriction. Consequently, this implies that people who are able to express themselves freely are able to break out of self-imposed states to become liberal thinkers. The leaders within any contemporary society must be enlightened if the other members of the public are to become free independent thinkers ( Soman, 2016 ). Governments on the other hand must not exert full control over their subjects in a manner that would make them blind followers. Regimes must therefore serve as a representation of the public’s interest if enlightenment is to be achieved.
It is very important for individuals to seek out personal enlightenment because this will enable them to make decisions without relying on others’ understanding. Many people normally find it hard to become liberal thinkers because they live in a culture where dependence is intertwined with their personal cognitive abilities. Kant notes that individuals must be willing to embrace individuality whenever they make decisions. They must therefore not be afraid to use their personal understanding without seeking help from others. Individuals who are always influenced by fear and cowardice serve as an epitome of those who live immature lives. They often believe that achieving self-maturity is hard and dangerous and as such, they spend most of their lives depending on others. Freedom is therefore presented as the only way individuals can get rid of self-imposed tutelage to become independent thinkers who are not afraid to make decisions on their own.
References
Kant, I. (2013). “What is enlightenment?” London: Penguin UK. Retrieved from http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html
Soman, E. “Summary of Immanuel Kant's Enlightenment.” Owlcation. Retrieved from https://owlcation.com/humanities/Summary-of-Immanuel-Kants-Enlightenment
