The Problem of Enlightenment within the Framework of Kant’s Critical Philosophy

Abstract

In his well-known text titled “An Answer to the question: What is enlightenment?” Kant alleged that enlightenment is the human being's emergence from his self-incurred minority. According to him, minority is inability to make use of one's own understanding without direction from another. In this respect, Sapere aude! Have courage to make use of your own understanding! is the motto of enlightenment. However, within the framework of so called text Kant doesn’t deal with what is the proper use of understanding/reason required for enlightenment, but instead of this, with the help of a distinction between public and private use of reason, he focuses on the conditions of freedom required for enlightenment. In this study, first of all, by examining the basic texts of Kant, we try to reveal the relations that found among the concepts of “enlightenment”, “reason”, “freedom” and “necessity” in terms of the possibility of these concepts which are to give a solution to the problem of enlightenment. Then, on this basis, we are trying to arrive to a holistic account of Kant’s conception of enlightenment within the framework of his critical philosophy.