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Kant's Dare To Think

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The Enlightenment was a powerful movement that used reason as a weapon to triumph over ignorance and advance liberty. In reading about notable enlightenment thinkers the theme “Dare to think” seemed to embody the values of the enlightenment. The concise statement “dare to think” is not just a statement, the very essence of the words embodies the enlighten.
The first word in the statement “dare” implies breaking a norm that has enormous power behind it. Despite the renaissance in which human thought was advanced, there was powerful opposition to breaking norms and being more open minded. Kant advocates for thinkers to have the courage to use reason to challenge what is wrong. This is key as the enlgihtment is all about removing what thinkers
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In his piece What is Enlightenment Immanuel Kant describes a “Self-incurred. tutelage’ that “lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another”, he exclaims, “Sapere aude [Dare to Know]!” and implores his readers to "Have courage to use [their] own reason!" because “that is the motto of enlightenment”. But he conducted faulty experiments that John Locke in the The Fundamental Constitution of the Carolinas, 1669 “

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Kant mentioned that it was difficult for men to become enlightened due to the fact there is always a person of religion and government teaching the people laws of life. If a man didn't want to become enlightened, he would just follow the people who is above him intellectually and lawfully because it is easier that way. For Kant, the importance of being enlightened is for man to use his natural gifts and find his own reasoning of the way of the world. Kant believed a scholar's use of public reasoning gives people a sense of reassurance which gives people to obey because it is a way of reinforcement of rules and law that the scholar presents the public with on a congregations behalf. Public reason is what people follow in order to make the society around them run at ease.

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Allowing people to think freely and come up with their own ideas was what the enlightenment was about. Kant says, “And what a people may not decree for itself can even less be decreed for them by a monarch, for his lawgiving authority rests on his uniting the general public will in his own” (5). What he is saying is that if people cannot think for themselves and make rules for themselves, then the king cannot make these rules for the, because his authority is based on bringing his people together through what they want and believe. I believe that Kant writes it like this to make the reader think about how it is their responsibility to think and make their own decisions. This is also what makes a good king, the ability to allow the people to think and question any laws that are put into place.

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This restriction of freedom allows humans to become lazy and immature which prevents them from becoming Enlightened. Kant argues that once people embrace laziness and immaturity, it becomes difficult to think by one’s self. He believes in the use of two types of reason, the public and private use of reason. He claims that the public use of reason alone can bring mankind into Enlightenment because it is this reasoning that allows groups of people with similar thoughts and criticisms to take a stance on a specific issue and bring it to the attention of the king.

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As a society continues to allow more freedom, it becomes more of an enlightened age, Kant describes that when obstacles have been removed the individuals and society were enlightened free to pursue, self-determination and

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