The Radical Demand of the Enlightenment Project: The Implications of Thinking for Oneself

Abstract

This article seeks to present the Enlightenment project (in its Kantian articulation) not as a relic of the past, but as a radical project still relevant today. To this end, two possible readings of Kant's Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? are contrasted: one according to which the task of "thinking for oneself" falls almost exclusively on individuals (with the sovereign having only the negative duty of not impeding free expression in the public sphere), and another according to which Enlightenment demands a positive, social concern for the quality and quantity of thought in the public sphere. It is argued that this second reading is more in line with both Kant's thought and the reality of things. The text concludes with a defense of the enduring relevance of the Enlightenment project.