Assignment #01 for FL399 Reason & Revolution - Reflection about Reading Kant, "What Is Enlightenment?"

Purpose: Reading without knowing why you are reading what you are reading (other than it was assigned) may not be productive, even in terms of your own benefit and pleasure from doing it. And, since the general immediate* purpose of the reading we are doing is to provide a foundation for an exchange of information and opinions, that discussion won't proceed as well as it should unless you have at least some initial idea of what you should be looking for and thinking (and maybe making some notes) about as you read.

*The longer-term general purpose of the reading is, of course, to be a better educated person and maybe even just a better person.

To see the generic expectations for reflective writing, look at the scoring guide.

Below are generic and specific questions and points to help you read, reflective, and express yourself. But in your writing (and certainly not your speaking) you need not respond to each and every one, much less do that in the given order.

Generic questions and points to think about when you read and then write or speak:

Can you express the main point of the passage in a well-formed sentence or two? To someone who is not specializing in this topic? Maybe even to someone younger and less educated?

Can you chart the author's process of presenting evidence and developing the main point(s)?

What other knowledge of yours did you find it helpful to bring to your reading?

Where did you find the reading difficult going? (and maybe also where it went most easily)

Did you notice specific gaps in your knowledge, for example references to unfamiliar people, texts, ideas, places, events? What did you do / What will you do to fill in those gaps?

For "What Is Enlightenment?"

How is Kant's world different from ours? (stay inside the text to find your information)

Where do we see Kant's ideas active in our own world?

Where is Kant "soooo very" Eighteenth-Century?

Where, if anywhere, do you disagree with him, whether in larger concepts or in details?

Are WE finally enlightened?

Do YOU have the courage to use reason?

Is using reason enough?

Is everyone competent to be enlightened and to use reason? Theoretically? Actually?

Is it natural (see page 268) to be enlightened?

Is Pascal, in the other reading passage, daring to use his reason?

Can we, like the clergymen Kant mentions, both use our reason but also obey?

Speaking of clergy, why all the talk about religion?

The terms and concepts "right(s)" and "null and void" - from what does Kant derive them - what are their logical foundations?

Do you agree with Kant's implied translation of "sapere aude" as "have the courage to use your own reason"?

People with German skills: what do you think of the following translations? Ausgang = release; Mensch = man; Unmündigkeit = tutelage