Jonathan's Discussion Questions for Oct. 18/19
For this week, please read Immanuel Kant's essay "What is Enlightenment?" on page 1 of Kramnick's Enlightenment Reader. Kant uses the term sapere aude - dare to know. What does he mean by this? Why would this idea be considered exciting by some people and dangerous by others? To what extent is the Enlightenment relevent today? Please bring your copy of the Reader to class. It will be helpful.
posted by Jonathan Jones at 12:47 PM
28 Comments:
I believe he means that to find and know your enlightenment you must first find what you are looking for. Take the chance which could have a great fall or which could have a great triumph.Depending on if you are a risk taker would depend if you would approve of this. If not a risk taker you would be scared of this out look but if a risk taker this would be the best idea for you. Courage can also lead to stupidity at times. He wants people to be courageous and take the leap but he never speaks of the fall that you could encounter. Today it is releivant for every risk people take. For every leap they embark upon and take that chance of having a great fall.
Sapere aude!-"Have the courage to use your own reason." Kant is trying to tell people that they should stand up for themselves. When they want to know something, question it. Going along with it is allowing yourself to be ruled. That is why Kant talks about how people get so familiar with the state that they are in, they don't try to change it. After awhile enlightenment is lost because there is no freedom left. This idea of having your own thought and voice could excite people because they would be allowed to be a free thinker. It scares some because it is an unexplored area. They have lived the way that they have for so long they are scared of change. Also if only a few stand they can be taken down easily because no one else wants to stand with them. Today we have a freedom to an extent. We have the law that you are free until your freedom hurts someone else. So we have the freedom of thought and speech, but no freedom to kill or commit a crime. We don't have the power to make change but we still have more freedom today.
-Jessica Walter
Sapere aude means, “Have courage to use your own reason!” it is the motto of the enlightenment. I believe this means, Be confident that you have the ability to make your own decisions and that you should break away from being dependant on others to a certain extent. Kant says that it is easy to use others to decide all the different aspects of your life, but when this occurs you lose competence. Some people find this exciding because it promotes individuality, and leads to more personal empowerment. Being your own person thinking your own way. Others could see this as dangerous. People who see this a dangerous like structure and are afraid that people make bad choices when they are not led. This is relevent today because as we grow up we learn to take more responsibility for our actions, and to assume responsibility in the actions of our government and other things.
By using sapere aude, Kant means that there should be more people willing to explore new things and use their own reasoning. He mentions that there were a lot of people that kind of stood to the side, being lazy and holding back, which lead to lifelong tutelage.
Some people would find this exciting because they are willing to get out of their shell and make a change somewhere, whereas other people may find it dangerous because they are afraid to change anything.
The Enlightenment is very relevant to today's society, because the Enlightenment was all about change and today's society has gotten where it is mostly by change.
Sapere aude means have courage to use your own reason. Kant means that you can do things on your own without the higher authority telling you what to do. This idea is exciting because people get to finally do their own thing. They don’t have to follow the crowd, but they do still have to obey the laws. People might think this is dangerous because people will do things freely and not think of their consequences. The freewill will cause problems for the people who believe everything everyone else tells them is right. The Enlightenment is relevant today because people are more courageous about doing their own thing. No one seeks total approval from authority to do things in their everyday lives.
Sapere aude means " have courage to use your own reason." Kant means that people are free to do whatever they please to do. They do not have to ask any type of authority to make a decision for them. The Enlighmnet is relevent today because the people of today do pretty much what they want. Many people find this idea exciting becasue it allows them to take responsibilities for their changes.
Enlightment is what the people make of there new findings and what they do with it. When the word sapere aude is used I think he wants people to make there own decision based upon their beliefs not the beliefs of others. This could be exciting for people because they might not want change, however some people never want change they want everything to stay the same. Enlightment is relevant today due to this is the reason that we have freedom in today's world.
Sapere aude is a topic Kant brought up in his "What is Enlightenment?". The text states that Sapere aude is to "have courage to use your own reason." By this, I think Kant is trying to say not to use what other people think is the right thing, and use their opinion, but think of your own reason and use it. I think he is saying that people have the freedom to do or think what they want, so use this ability. The idea may be exciting for some because they have never had this kind of freedom before, and a new freedom is quite exciting. It may be dangerous to some because some people who are not used to change are sometimes scared of change, and the effects it may have. The Enlightenment is still relevent today because we have many freedoms. The Enlightenment was one of the first times people had the freedom to do anything, and to still have rights and freedoms even hundreds of years later, shows the relevance of the Enlightenment.
The term "sapere aude" that Kant uses in his essay means "dare to know." What he means by this is that everyone should think for themselves, regardless of what everyone else thinks. He says that people should use their own reason instead of relying on others to tell you what to think and what to believe. This would be exciting to people because it would open up new possibilities of learning things and understanding things. Thinking for yourself gives you a sense of freedom. This would seem dangerous to some, however, because it would be harder to convince people to listen to you. The Enlightenment is relevent today in our society's education. We stress the importance of getting an education because of these ideas about thinking for yourself that arose during the Enlightenment.
When he says dare to know, he means people should figure things out for themselves, rather than depending on others to do their thinking for them. This idea would seem exciting for the lower classes, but dangerous for the upper classes because they may lose some power and influence. Enlightenment has completey influenced today's society in that we incourage independant thinking and furthuring your education.
Kant says "Sapere aude!", meaning "Have courage to use your own reason!". By saying this, Kant wants people to think for themselves and not let other people think for them. The idea might be exciting to the people that didn't have the freedom to think for themselves before. This idea could also be dangerous because people might do things more freely and without thinking about the consequences. Also, it could be dangerous to those who don't want things to change. The Enlightenment is still relevant today because we have freedoms and some people are still afraid of change.
When Kant says this he means that people should think for themselves and figure out meanings in life by themselves. Some people would be excited because they are the adventurous type that love to figure things out by themselves. Other people would be scared by this because they are used to being spoon fed everything. The Enlightenment is relevant today because many people love change but others are still scared of change.
The phrase "sapere aude" means "dare to know." In all, Kant uses this in context to show that we all need to discover and think for ourselves without the help of others or society. This freedom gives us the idea of independent thinking and conscience. Enlightenment withdraws power from the upper class, and grants the lower class more freedom. This could be dangerous to people who fear change. Lastly, I think enlightenment is still present today, because we all are given freedom and the opportunity to expand your knowledge through education.
“Sapere aude!” meaning “Have courage to use your own reason!” is the motto of enlightenment. Kant explains that people should make decisions based on reason, and not based upon a preconceived belief. One must set these beliefs aside first in order to make a rational decision. This idea is best explained by the quote, “The public use of one’s reason must always be free, and it alone can bring about enlightenment among men.” This would be exciting to some because it provides a new way of thinking, but for the same reason, many would think it would be dangerous. Enlightenment is still relevant today and can be seen through the increased amount of social and political activist groups striving for equality for minorities.
The term "Sapere Aude" - definition: Have courage by using your own reason and say what you believe in any situation. This is important to enlightenment because it is almost the basis of enlightenment. What I mean is The Enlightenment was only possible because people stood up and spoke out about changes they wanted to make and said what they believed in. Kant uses this phrase to explain it is okay for people express their freedom of speech even if it doesn't exist. However, if it doesn't exist, the only way to change that is to go against the grain.
Spaere aude! “Have courage to use your own reason!” that in the motto of enlightenment which is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Kant is trying to tell that the step to competence is held to be very dangerous by the far greater portion of mankind, so they need guardians if they try to go alone; actually, this danger is not so great. The Enlightenment is relevant to today’s society because many people get the freedom by Enlightenment. And it changed our society. America also achieved cultural, social, and industrial development by Enlightenment.
“Have courage to use your own reason.”--is what sapere aude means. I believe that this means that you have to learn to trust yourself, and believe in yourself to make the right decisions. The higher amount of risk that you take, they greater benefit you are willing to achieve. You can’t win anything, without first putting. People would consider this term exciting because it promotes individual discovery and breaking apart from society, people also could see this as dangerous because it goes against all structural organization. This relevant to today’s world because many people want to go their own way and not be part of the crowd, they are looking for the new, unique thing. Our society toward encourages independent thinking and furthering our education.
Sapere aude- Dare to know. It also means have courage to use your own reason. This means that you cant always go what somebody tells you to do. You have to go by what your mind tells you is right now what the system tells you. You can't just be a agreeing robot. This would be scary to some people who think that they arent bright or who think there stupid so they just go by what people tell them is right. The enlighten ment is revevant today by today we are very outspoken and we think for areselves.
Sapere Aude means to "Have courage to use your own reason", to me when Kant says that it means that you need to be brave when doing things without people telling you to, basically be brave and do you and do be like others. The thought of the saying or phrase is great because people start to do things on their own and they are more brave about their decisions. The people make their own choices at this point but still have to follow certain rules/laws. The idea of it is good but can turn out to be bad because people might do things and might not think about the outcome or consequences. The enlightenment is very much like the society today because people do things more freely and are very courageous but I think that the people in this world now think of their consequences before taking action.
Sapere aude means have courage to use your own reason. He basically means to answer to your own self. This is exciting for some people because it basically gives them the freedom that they have always wanted but to some people, people who like the strict rules and the old way of doing things, it was a horrible and blasphemous way of doing things. People needed rules and restrictions or they were going to be out of line. The Enlightenment is relevant today in how nearly all the ideas are still held dear to us today.
"Have the courage to use your own reason" translates into "Sapere Aude". I feel that this translates into being able to be brave enough to live out your life according to your own devices. I feel like this could mean having the ability to realize that you can do what you please as long as you have the audacity to bring it into action.
Sapere aude mean "have the courage to use your own reason." This could be exciting to some people because it gives these people the chance think how they want to think and to act how they believe they should act. This idea could be seen as dangerous to others because, some people may think if I dont think like everyone else and I think how I want to, then society will not like what I am doing and hurtful things might happen to me. The Enlightenment is relevent today because having the courage to use your own reason is a big part of our society. If one doesnt use his or her personal judgement on weither something is wrong or right, then that person will most likely will do stupid things and end up in bad places.
When Kant says sapere aude and tells people to dare to know he is telling them that it is ok to be an enlightened person who can say “Argue as much as you will, and about what you will, only obey!” A person who argues should be asking questions, which means that they are learning about new issues and they “dare to know”. This could be considered exciting for the person who is asking the questions, but some people would consider it dangerous mainly because that means they could attempt to debate the known facts. Thus leading to either asking questions with unknown answers or asking questions that have answers that are not suppose to be told. The Enlightenment is relevant today for anyone who is still learning and asking questions. Most people don’t think about the fact that the Enlightenment is happening because anymore it is just called learning, not becoming enlightened.
~Jennifer Claybrooks
The latin term “Sapere aude” literally translated as “dare to know” described as having courage to use your own reason without having a outside factor influencing your decision. Kant uses this idea to open up people’s minds to discover new truths. This idea must have been exciting back in the early days of the enlightenment to many as it brings out many questions that might have been historical repressed by social influences. This change in behavior might have been seen as dangerous by others by challenging the status quo. Some people and institutions may think this is a dangerous new idea could challenge their position. This idea of “Sapere aude” and the enlightenment in general still holds relevance today. Everyday people are still faced with deciding on what is right and what is wrong, and they should try and find their answers to unknown questions. The enlightenment is a continuing idea as man looks into discovering more knowledge of their world.
Kant uses the phrase "Sapere aude" to try to motivate people to become aware of themselves and thier lives. Its literal translation is "Have courage to use your own reason!" But it means more, it is motivating people to be conscious. To somewhat rebel against the authority. This is why it may be bad for social norms as they were prior to the einlightenment because it is almost telling people to challenge life and not just do what you are told. When you are a leader you want people who don't question you, this consciousness is not good for the kings. However I do think it is good for ones personal selves, to take control of their lives. Today in America most people question authority and their place in society, but not everyone acts upon this disconnect. A society needs all types of people to make it work properly.
Daring to know something, presumably an idea or theory shocking or previously unheard of, was considered not only risque but at times dangerous by the standards of 1700s living. In a time period stifled by severe propriety, the Enlightenment must have been a breath of fresh air; intellectuals likely found the shock value of their ideology to be invigorating, and the fact that it was a worldwide movement lent a sense of excitement and fashion to it. Those not as pleased by it were upholders of tradition, made apprehensive by that which they did not understand. Many of the movement's writings and speeches still remain relevant today - we keep them alive through the reading Descartes and contributing to the popularity of such productions as Mozart's Magic Flute, which, at the time of it's initial release, was hated by the general public. It could also be said that we appreciate the Enlightenment more today, as we realize the impact and relevance it had in changing society as a whole.
-Katie Woods
As stated, "Sapere aude" means "dare to know" in Latin. This means to think for yourself, and not allow outside influences affect you. This kind of thinking was viewed as dangerous because of the way it challenged "ancient laws" (the world is flat, geocentricism, etc.) Thankfully, some were bold enough to challenge these beliefs. Though this is dated, it still holds relevance in the modern world. Compared to the realm of science, you must have the courage to go outside standard thinking to find new truths, and to challenge the old.
In using the term "sapere aude," Kant means exactly what the text states: "Have courage to use your own reason!" If everyone else does your work for you, leaving you to be lazy or cowardly, you don't have to think for yourself because "others will readily undertake the irksome work for me." Kant uses an analogy to cattle to explain this ideal. He says cattle should no long be dumb, placid creatures that "dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are confined..." He means that common ideals changed during the time of the Enlightenment. No longer were these cattle meant to be "dumb," but individuals that could work for themselves and go it alone. This was the common theme of the time. This idea would seem exciting to some because it wasn't often that individuals could say or do anything they wanted. It was probably more common to conform to a group than have your own ideals, which in turn, is why many people thought this idea to be dangerous because they weren't used to it. The Enlightenment period is relevant today because in America, it is expected for people to be individuals and think for themselves.
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