Immaturity and Public Reason

Kant's answer in 1784 to the question “What is Enlightenment?” is that it is a “human being's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity,” which is the “inability to use one's own understanding without direction from another” (Ak VIII: 35). This immaturity is self-incurred when it is caused not by a lack of mental capacity, but by the “the lack of resolution [Entschliessung] and courage to use one's own understanding without direction from another.” Thus for Kant, “Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding is the motto of the Enlightenment.”

How can one overcome irresolution, commit oneself to using one's own understanding, and break away from the guidance of other people? Although “Dare to be wise!” is the motto of the Enlightenment, Kant writes, most people suffer from the effects of irresolution and are not enlightened. It is easier to remain in immaturity, and it has also been made safer by society's guardians, who treat human beings like “domestic cattle.” First they ensure that “these placid creatures will not dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are tethered” and then they “show them the danger which threatens if they try to walk alone” (Ak VIII: 35).

Rare individuals can manage to overcome irresolution and free themselves from self-imposed immaturity by “working on their own minds,” but this is difficult.