Have you ever wondered "
What is Enlightenment?"
Two hundred and fifty years ago this was an important question and it was well answered by Immanuel Kant.
A question today might be:
i) is this still a good definition of 21st Century Enlightenment?
ii) what is the significance today of enlightenment? ( this definition or other )
I would have to say that despite over 200 years of technological advances, society still suffers from the same self-imposed immaturity, and that the definition as given is still completely accurate. The "maturity" and enlightenment that has generally occurred since "The Enlightenment" has with very rare exception been not in the area of advancing one's own understanding without guidance from another. In fact we are probably in the dark on MORE subjects now than they were 200 years ago.
In the dawn of the age of reason, the intellectuals of the time had good reson to believe that simply allowing freedom to disagree would produce all the enlightenment a society could handle, but I would argue that time has not shown this to be completely accurate. People's innate fear and laziness still pose real and serious road blocks to this project.
CNN, FOX, MTV, and Wikepedia, now determine and distribute the intellectual and moral guidance once imposed by superstitions and whims of the ruling class.
What would happen if people seriously considered current issues as opposed to being spoon fed by the media or a web page?
