EURO ST 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 67: Sapere Aude, Deontological Ethics, Child Prodigy
Professor Smith
Europe Studies 10
Course Code: 24000
4 units
2018 Fall Quarter
Course Notes
● Some review and key points
○ What is enlightenment?
○ “Emergence from self-incurred tutelage”
○ “Emergence from Unmundigkeit”
■ From minor status, from lacking a voice
○ Goal is “autonomy”
■ Giving ourselves the law; not being determined by others or non-rational
influences; recall Kant’s “deontological” ethics
○ “Sapere aude!”
■ “Dare to use your mind”
● Enlightenment is a process
○ We’re not in an “enlightened age” but in an “age of enlightenment”
○ That is, we are not (or might never) be fully enlightened, but that’s not the point
○ It’s important that we (kant’s and frederick the great’s prussia) have set up
institutions that make greater enlightenment possible
● What is the process and what institutions make it possible?
○ Enlightenment is a public process
■ People engage in public debate over issues
○ The state requires obedience
■ It’s a machine that needs to run smoothly
○ But it can be improved by public exchanges of ideas
○ We benefit from a “public sphere”
■ Literal and virtual spaces of exchange (“the reading public”)
○ “Argue as much as you want, but obey”
○ A version of Luther’s paradox?
■ Free yet obey?
○ Public vs. private use of reason:
■ As a citizen/scholar/rational being, I can engage freely in public debate on
any issue
■ But as a functionary in society, I need to serve my function and do my job
■ Examples?
● Relevance?
○ Kant’s ideas helped lay the foundations for liberal societies and democracies
○ We need spaces (public sphere, civil society)
■ Where free exchange of ideas can take place
○ We need to be on the lookout for new and more inclusive spaces as well as for
ways in which our society is excluding people from the public sphere
○ And we need to wonder how things like big money and technology are affecting
the public sphere
● Magic Flute
