GREAT BOOKS 28: WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT BY IMMANUEL KANT

WITH BÉATRICE LONGUENESSE

 Immanuel Kant's short 1784 essay, "What is Enlightenment?" clearly lays out what the Age of Reason means: that we are encouraged to think for ourselves to claim our freedom. What, precisely, does it mean to think for oneself? Should that not be just natural and intuitive, rather than something we need to learn? 

I spoke with one of the great experts on Kant's philosophy, Professor Béatrice Longuenesse of NYU and the author of Kant and the Capacity to Judge, and the wonderful philosophical inquiry, I, Me, Mine: Back to Kant, and Back Again, to understand what Kant means when he says that we can be taught to think for ourselves, and what Kant, usually credited with ushering in modern philosophy, did for thinking in general.