THINKER'S ALMANAC - April 22

The philosopher Immanuel Kant summed up the challenge of the Enlightenment with a two-word Latin motto:  Sapere aude.  What is the translation of this motto in English?

Subject: Enlightenment - Sapere aude

Event:  Philosopher Immanuel Kant is born, 1724

Provoked by challenges to conventional wisdom from science and expiration, mindful of the bloodshed of recent wars of religion, and abetted by the easy movement of ideas and people, the thinkers of the Enlightenment sought a new understanding of the human condition. -Steven Pinker

Most historians mark the beginning of the Enlightenment based on two important works:  one was Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica, published in 1686, and the other is John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” published in 1689.  These two work’s typified the Enlightenment ideals of eschewing superstition and blind faith while embracing reason, science, and progress.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant was born during the Enlightenment on this day in 1724 in Konigsberg, Prussia.  Born into humble beginnings, both of Kant’s parents died when he was a young man.  Working for years as a tutor for the children of wealthy parents, Kant was finally able to complete his own education, earning a degree from the University of Konigsberg when he was 31 years old. After completing his education, Kant stayed in the small home village of Konigsberg and soon became a lecturer at the university.

When he was 60 years old, Kant read an article in a German magazine where a clergyman and official of the Prussian Government - Reverend Johann Friedrich Zollner - asked the following:

What is enlightenment? This question, which is almost as important as what is truth, should indeed be answered before one begins to enlighten!  And still I have never found it answered!

Kant responded to Zollner’s question with an essay where he put forth his definition.  The first paragraph read as follows:

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.

Speaking of all of humanity as an immature child (“nonage”), Kant argues that enlightenment is the conscious and often difficult choice of growing up and thinking for yourself.  He acknowledges that it is often easier to have others do your thinking for you and that it takes courage to cast off the yoke of dogma and cultivate your own mind.  To illustrate this, Kant explains describes it as the same relationship a farmer (“guardian”) has with his cattle:

After the guardians have first made their domestic cattle dumb and have made sure that these placid creatures will not dare take a single step without the harness of the cart to which they are tethered, the guardians then show them the danger which threatens if they try to go alone. Actually, however, this danger is not so great, for by falling a few times they would finally learn to walk alone.

Kant’s essay gave us the bumper sticker, the motto, we need to remember the key themes of the Enlightenment -- reason, science, humanism, and progress -- and also the key action that made it work:  “Sapere aude” - Dare to think for yourself.

In 2018, cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker published the book Enlightenment Now, where he made the case that we should not view the Enlightenment as a just a past historical age; instead, we should continue to practice its principles in the 21st century:

The Enlightenment swims against currents of human nature -- tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking -- that demagogues are all too willing to exploit.  And far from begging the consensus among intellectuals, Enlightenment ideals are furiously opposed by religious, political, and cultural pessimists who insist that Western civilization is in terminal decline.  The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.

The following are a few quotes by thinkers who embraced the motto Sapere aude and who challenge us to likewise have the courage to think for ourselves: 

Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write. -John Adams

We must dare to think about ‘unthinkable things’ because when things become ‘unthinkable’ thinking stops and action becomes mindless. - J. William Fulbright

Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking… -Leo Tolstoy 

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of crackpot than the stigma of conformity. -Thomas J. Watson 

Challenge - Truth AND Dare:  Many students base their selection of a college based on criteria such as availability of academic majors, cost, or location.  One little known criterion that might be considered is the educational institution’s motto; after all, the motto should sum up the college’s primary mission.  Do some research on college mottos.  Select the one you like the best.  If it is not in English, find the translation.  Then, explain why you like it.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

April 22, 1924:  Today is the birthday of cognitive psychologist Peter Wason, who coined the term “confirmation bias” and who created the Wason selection task, which demonstrates the human tendency to look for evidence that confirms prior beliefs.

April 22, 1903:  Today is the birthday of Alan H. Monroe.  As a public speaking instructor at Purdue University, he created the Monroe’s Motivational Sequence.

Sources:

1-Kant, Immanuel. “What is Enlightenment”  

2-Pinker, Steven. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. New York: Viking, 2018. Print.