WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT?
This is an essay by Foucault (1984) on the enlightenment and he refers to Kants answer to the question in 1784. Kant suggests that to be enlightened we need a way out of immaturity which he states is a certain state of our will which makes us accept someone else’s authority to lead us in areas where the use of reason is called for. kant gives three examples: when a book takes the place of our understanding, when a spiritual director takes the place of our conscience, when a doctor decides for us what our diet is to be. i.e enlightenment is defined by a modification of the preexisting relation linking will, authority, and the use of reason. But he suggests that though we shouldn’t just obey. We should obey and reason as much as we like. e.g we should pay our taxes whilst arguing as much as we like about the system of taxation. We should do our duty by playing our part in the cog of the machine (private reason), and exercise our freedom of reason, freedom of thought/ speech (public reason). He suggests that allowing free use of reason will be the best guarantee of obedience.
