What Is Enlightenment?

Kant’s essay on enlightenment finds him arguing with more passion and less technical detail than one usually finds in his work. He is also writing for a popular (though likely still well-read) audience, so he spends less time on his argument’s finer points in favor of making his claims forcefully and concisely.

He answers the question of the title directly in the first sentence in a way that challenges readers, implying that humans as a species have not fully grown up and that this is their own fault; humans live in a state of “self-imposed immaturity” (41, 8:35). Enlightenment, as Kant describes it, is just humanity’s emergence from that state, which requires Thinking for Oneself and becoming the master of one’s own will rather than relying on external authorities. The reason people are not enlightened, he says, is their own lack of resolve—their “laziness and cowardice” (41, 8:35). They have allowed “guardians” (the term Kant uses throughout for authorities) to step in and do most of their thinking and decision-making. Kant deploys the metaphor of livestock to make this condition vivid and to raise the stakes.