10.3 Kant — «Was ist Aufklärung?» — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read the whole of Immanuel Kant's essay Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (1784), the most famous definition of the Enlightenment, in its first printing. Follow the structure of a philosophical argument: definition, causes, conditions, distinction, objection, conclusion. Understand Kant's key distinction between the public and the private use of reason, which is the opposite of what English readers expect. Read the formal German of the eighteenth century: genitive objects ( sich seines Verstandes bedienen ), long periods, foreign words with German endings ( räsonniren , Despotism ). Sentences from this text, before the notes. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Es ist so bequem, unmündig zu sein. It is so comfortable to be immature. Habe Muth dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! Have the courage to use your own understanding! der öffentliche Gebrauch seiner Vernunft muß jederzeit frei sein the public use of one's reason must always be free Faulheit und Feigheit sind die Ursachen Laziness and cowardice are the causes dafür sorgen schon jene Vormünder those guardians see to that Prerequisites : 10.2 — you need the analysis of arguments from 10.1 Argument and 10.2 Argument , the old forms from 2.39 Grammar , the vocabulary of philosophy from 5.18 Vocabulary , and Lessing's Nathan from 7.33 Reading . About this text Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) spent almost his whole life in and around Königsberg in East Prussia, now Kaliningrad, where he taught at the university. His three critiques, of pure reason (1781), practical reason (1788) and judgement (1790), changed European philosophy. In 1783 a Berlin pastor asked, in a footnote in the Berlinische Monatsschrift , what enlightenment actually was. Several writers answered. Kant's answer appeared in the same journal in December 1784; Moses Mendelssohn, the model for Lessing's Nathan, had answered a few months earlier, as Kant notes in his footnote. The essay is short, about 2,700 words, and is printed here complete, from the transcription of the first printing in German Wikisource, without the journal's header and with the editors' expansions of two abbreviations removed. It begins with a definition that every German pupil learns, and its motto, Sapere aude! , dare to know , became the motto of the Enlightenment. Kant wrote under Frederick II of Prussia, the "philosopher king", who allowed unusual freedom of opinion, and the essay praises him as the ruler of the Zeitalter der Aufklärung . Like most men of his time, Kant also counts das ganze schöne Geschlecht , all women, among those kept under tutelage, a remark that shows how far his own age still was from the freedom he described. The plan Paragraph Step of the argument Key sentence 1 definition and motto Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. 2 causes: laziness and cowardice; the guardians Es ist so bequem, unmündig zu sein. 3–4 the individual can hardly free himself; a public can, slowly, if it is free Daher kann ein Publikum nur langsam zur Aufklärung gelangen. 5 the condition: freedom of the public use of reason; the private use may be limited der öffentliche Gebrauch seiner Vernunft muß jederzeit frei sein 6 objection: may the church bind later generations? No Das wäre ein Verbrechen wider die menschliche Natur 7–9 the present: not an enlightened age, but an age of enlightenment; the ruler's role Nein, aber wohl in einem Zeitalter der Aufklärung. 10 the paradox: less civil freedom can give more freedom of thought räsonnirt so viel ihr wollt, und worüber ihr wollt; nur gehorcht! Public and private use of reason. This is the centre of the essay and the place where English readers most often go wrong. For Kant, the private use of reason is what you do in an office or post entrusted to you: an officer on duty, a tax-payer paying, a pastor preaching to his congregation. Here obedience may be required. The public use is what you do as a scholar, a Gelehrter , writing for the whole reading public: here you must be free to criticise everything, including the orders you obey in your office. The officer obeys on duty and criticises the army's mistakes in print; the pastor preaches the church's doctrine and publishes his doubts about it. Freedom of publication, not freedom of disobedience, is what enlightenment needs. Worked example A close reading of the first paragraph, sentence by sentence. Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit. A definition in the classic form: X ist Y . The key noun is Ausgang , a way out , a movement, not a state: enlightenment is a process. Unmündigkeit is a legal term: the status of a minor, who needs a guardian, a Vormund , to act for him. selbst verschuldet , self-incurred , is the provocation: the condition is our own fault. Unmündigkeit ist das Unvermögen, sich seines Verstandes ohne Leitung eines anderen zu bedienen. The second sentence defines the first sentence's key term, a typical step in philosophical prose. Note the genitive object of 2.39 Grammar : sich seines Verstandes bedienen , to make use of one's understanding . Selbstverschuldet ist diese Unmündigkeit, wenn die Ursache derselben nicht am Mangel des Verstandes, sondern der Entschließung und des Muthes liegt … The third sentence defines the second key term, and it does so with fronting from 2.38 Grammar : the adjective Selbstverschuldet stands first because it is the point under discussion. The antithesis nicht … sondern locates the cause: not lack of understanding, but lack of resolve and courage. Sapere aude! Habe Muth dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! ist also der Wahlspruch der Aufklärung. The conclusion of the paragraph is an imperative, a Latin motto from the poet Horace, transla