HISTORY 5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Enlightened Absolutism, Bernard Picart, Giambattista Vico
Document Summary
Kant"s was ist aufklarung? (what is enlightenment?) Kant = most influential philosopher of modern era; systematized much of enlightenment philosophy, reframed aspects of human condition. Enlightenmt = man"s emergence from self-imposed immaturity. Have courage to use your own understanding = motto of enlightenment. Categorical imperative? ethics shd be constructed so that your personal morality can act as universal morality. Reason - application of human understanding - is learned; entails criticism of prejudices/superstitions that keep us from seeing world/ourselves as they really are. Enlightenmt = liberation thru reason, from past/polit bondage/soc control. ^ these ideas continue to be foundations of philosophical thought. Almost by definition, an attempt by small # of ppl to remake the world according to their dictates of reason. Incredibly hubris and arrogance of project - framed their own biases as reason. Trying to make 1 particular view of reason normative. Enthusiasts had things to gain - jobs at universities; internat prestige; pwr in govts.
