Review of Immanuel Kant's "What is Enlightenment?" (translation by Mary Campbell Smith)

Despite the natural doom and sludge of the human condition, is idealism possible? In today's age, can idealism agitate institutionalized individuals towards Enlightenment? In order to study the nature of today's reality, a coexistence with dreadful nausea, absurdity, cynicism and nihilism has been absolutely necessary. But what happens when a brand-new problem is encountered? Do individuals approach this new problem which has risen with hope or with hopelessness? What impacts does philosophy have on how entire societies behave? Today, modern work makes human beings function without reason or rationality in a corruptible system which does nothing more than suppress individual freedom. In the case of India, a student, especially of language and literature, may question what is the purpose of studying alien languages and writing through their medium. But in India, English is essential for good employment. So, in search of good employment, I too have struggled with the pragmatics of the English language. Two of the greatest discoveries of my life which have proved to be sources of the sublime, have been of the theatre and of literature, but when I looked for employment in these domains of life, social factors indicated that feelings of sublime were a mere phenomenon. In order to attain what was necessary I should keep my expectations to a minimum because of the social dichotomy between forces of regional and foreign languages in practice. Pleasures and the sublime did not dictate economic prosperity. Economic factors discourage individuals from making a career in the arts, so much so that society accepts work whose first principles is the suppression of the freedom of expression. Therefore, in my worldly search, there has been an unexplainable angst which demanded an employment of art in the dissemination of knowledge against the propagation of these human conditions. Art has an inherent morality and art has method. The nature of modern work causes people immense nausea and sometimes the characters they come into contact with at workplace reveals to them the psychopathic side of the modern capitalism. As for me, I have observed the workings of the government of India from within, and it has caused a great dread to rise out within me. This hopeless dread rises due to the fractured nature of a divided Indian society. I assume that one of the root causes for such fractures is the diversity of languages in the Indian Union and their effects on identity and reason. How language displaces thoughts! So, I wondered, what is Enlightenment?    

This translation of the essay "What is Enlightenment?" written by the philosopher Immanuel Kant was made by Mary Campbell Smith (1814-1886). I approached this essay from a destitute place, not in the material sense but in the psychological sense. Oppressive forces at work have caused me to feel disappointed with the progress made by India with respect to the human condition and this experience inevitably drifts towards a genuine feeling of state failure. In India, to think in English while simultaneously be aware of the nature of being results in a strange identity crisis. Where language is concerned, a part of one's self which is yet undiscovered manifests itself into the noumenon. In Kantian philosophy, noumenon is a thing-in-it-self as opposed to a phenomenon which can be perceived by an observer. The activities carried out using alien languages bear little resemblance with the harsh realities of India and this language kickstarts a complicated process of systematic othering. However, in India interacting with others in English has given people immense intellectual and economic prosperity. But, the burdens of the existential dread caused by the linguistic divide makes it impossible to rely solely on domains like literature to understand the meaning of enlightenment. To add to this mental disturbance the mental numbness caused by the servile psychology of modern work pushes artists into slavery. But art transcends through resistance. Is it able to do so because of idealism or is art an enlightening process for the artists as well as the audience? I interpret this essay to rekindle the weakened flames of idealism. But is it possible to reflect on the ideas articulated by Kant in his essay and describe them using the human conditions arising out of the nature of modern work? 

Kant's writing draws lost causes back from the depths of the abyss and illuminates them for the mind to perceive. This essay is aimed to help readers emerge out of a state of self-imposed nonage. Kant describes "nonage" as the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. He begins his essay by establishing that one must above everything else show courage, because enlightenment requires nothing but freedom. He clarifies that one must dare to know! (Sapere aude.) He suggests that perhaps the corruption of the human soul was the same in his times as it is now. The modern struggle began with the institutionalization of individuals, and corrupted absolutely as it grew acceptable that paying money will ensure an end to ideological disagreement. His subject is still universal and pertinent. That is to say if one accepts money from their employer, they no longer object to the nature of work being carried out or oppose the oppression of freedom of expression in workspace. Kant repeatedly encourages us to show courage by thinking for ourselves and not fear injury, for a few stumbles will only teach us how to walk and a few failures will teach us how to be successful.    

Today is the age of digital information and a it can be argued that education can both be an instrument of liberation as well as oppression. But the ocean is vast. The systems of studying literature enables institutionalized individuals to experience a moment of rudimentary awakening because of their use of the freedom of expression. But the struggles of the modern educated human being are still primal and need to be revolutionized at the individual level with particular attention to the reality of the present moment. This causes the human condition crisis and dread. Here, the monumental leap imagined by Kant in his essay, was firstly the acknowledgement of the institutionalization of individuality and secondly calling for the public to enlighten itself by illuminating their relationship with their collectives. Humans must learn together, and appreciate the world together to give way to a sense of social culture. Kant's commentary on this spirit of appreciation for man's values conditions the public to also consider it their duty to think for themselves. He shows his readers the perniciousness of prejudices by saying that new prejudices will serve in place of the old and in order to lay the emphasis on what is enlightenment he draws attention back to the idea of freedom. He considers freedom to be the public display of one's reason in all matters. He asserts that even in his age there were restrictions to freedom. But he again emphasises that public use of one's reason must be free at all times, for this alone can bring enlightenment to mankind. In his essay he challenges the authority of despots and religious ministers who advocate for the punishment of dissenters.    

Metaphysics studies the fundamental first principles of being or existence and, necessity and possibility. Furthermore, ontology is that branch of metaphysics which studies being. I take guidance from Heidegger here, who considered "being" or "Dasein" as a whole thinking subject of the world. Here, it is particularly important to quote directly from Kant's essay because of the unavailability of that "being" which I so dreadfully become when I go to work: 

"in some affairs affecting the interest of the community a certain [government] mechanism is necessary in which some members of the community remain passive. This creates an artificial unanimity which will serve the fulfilment of public objectives, or at least keep these objectives from being destroyed."  

So, the work of the government is to keep certain members of the community passive... 

Here, it is important to point out that being passive is the main cause of the inability to use own's own understanding without another's guidance. Thus, in order to further explore the relationship between individuals and their institutional collectives, Kant encourages public argument. An argument, for Kant, is an obligation. He affirms that by communicating with the public on all the carefully examined and constructed thoughts the work one remains associated to as a passive member will not suffer any damage. Oh, how often I have worried for my own well-being before voicing dissent! Kant's argument further complicates itself with a question on people's ability to impose such laws against freedom of expression onto themselves. All people should have the freedom to publish their criticisms of existing institutions, but it is modern society which discourages individuals from doing so. It is individuals themselves who feel lost for not being able to express their contempt for institutional injustices against their individuality. His essay illuminates over the sacred rights of men to reason, question, criticize and publicly express nonconformity with contemporary trends. He also addresses Frederick [the Great] of the Prussian Empire and concludes his essay by saying that publishing one's own thoughts publicly will guarantee salvation and requests for rulers to leave their subjects alone to do what they find necessary to attain that salvation. For Kant, the work of rulers is to prevent one man from injuring the other, to liberate them from dependence on government and be tolerant of scholars (regardless of their duties in their offices) publishing their ideas to the world for inspection freely and openly. Nonetheless, the essay is a testament in support of the intellectual freedom of the people. After reading this essay it can be said that just as the inability to use one's own understanding can be self-imposed, freedom too can be self-imposed. The key take-away is that the threat to freedom in any society is barbarism.

German Idealism is said to have emerged out of Kant's works in the 1780s and 1790s. One out of the many complicated ideas which found elaborate exploration during this phase drew correlation between thought and being. It seems as though in this period philosophers gave utmost importance to phenomenology and argued around the Kantian belief that human beings perceive reality through a set of concepts already present with them. Kant also philosophized that there is a reality which can never be penetrated through human perception. He speculated that thoughts cannot provide us access to the thing itself, and for him this was the transcendental nature of reality. These ideas might perhaps prove helpful in understanding the structures of power between subjects and ruling classes. 

The period of German Idealism influenced many complicated philosophers, like Hegel and Schopenhauer, and their ideas have been interpreted differently across the world. After reading this essay which advocates for people to break their bonds with the slavery of modern work, I wait eagerly to find more such meaningful and influential texts from across the world.