SOC203H1 Lecture Notes - Religious Calling, False Consciousness, Political Machine
Document Summary
Approaching reason, the opinions that prevail in society. And the kind of weight opinions should have in politics: enlightenment. A process: an intellectual movement alive today consisting of thinkers who believe reason has emancipatory potential. In 1784 a newspaper held a competition and the task was to answer this question in an essay. When you put people in a group together and get them to express ideas you will find they will start to express themselves and their ideas. A public can only attain enlightenment slowly. A revolution can never truly reform a manner of thinking (he gets at thinking) Nothing is required for enlightenment except freedom. When people allowed to gather together and express their opinion freely reason is bound to be at best. Public use of one"s reason must always be free and this can bring about enlightenment: public opinion. In political philosophy public opinion has very little to do with everyday discourse.
