John Mill and Immanuel Kant Essay

The following is a conceptual paper that I have written to address the following questions: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is enlightenment for Kant? What is the public use of reason? 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Mill, how do people develop understandings of the world? Do most people have sound understandings? Question 1 Kant observed that: â€Å"If it is now asked: â€Å"Do we presently live in an enlightened age?† the answer is, â€Å"No, but we do live in an age of enlightenment.† (Kant, p.4) So, Kant characterized the state of society and separate individuals as imperfect, and pointed, that Enlightenment is a long-lasting process. Kant explained Enlightenment as â€Å"man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity† (Kant, p.1). Such immaturity for him meant inability to use own reason and to â€Å"think with own head†. The basic characteristic of immaturity is that it is caused not by lack of understanding or ability, but by lack of will and desire to think. Under Kant’s teaching, most of the individuals would rather prefer to rely on other’s understanding, than on their own. So, they gladly follow orders of teacher’s, priests and government authorities (Kant, p. 2).   So, Kant believed, that the purpose of Enlightenment was to tech people think for themselves. Kant separated that, what he called â€Å"private use of reason† from that what he called â€Å"public use of reason†.   Generally, public use of reason is defined as ability to think and argue reasonably before authorities. The situation of public use of reason may be potentially unpleasant or even dangerous for an individual, however, an enlightened person should not be afraid to think rationally and reject unfounded claims of, for example, taxman or pastor. Those latter in turn are to apply private reason – ability to think rationally, attributable to persons, filling public positions (Kant, p.3). Under Kant, in case most of the individuals in a particular society are able to apply both public and private reason, such society may be considered as enlightened. Question 2 According to Mill, only one person out of hundred is able to judge a fact, in case it is not obvious, and even this one, who is able to judge, possesses only comparative abilities for the matter (Mill, p.2). Existing opinions of those, who are relatively able to think, are influenced by historic development of people’s understanding. Mill notes the following contradiction: humans aim to think rationally, but the rationality of their affairs and conduct remains in desperate conditions. Therefore, human acts and opinions need to be corrected, taking into account experience, and being proved by discussion. Experience alone may appear to be vague, due to false application in previous cases. Therefore, discussion becomes a tool for investigation of experience and reduction of probability of misuse (Mill, p.3). Another function of discussion is providing broader approach to a particular problem. Under Mill, even the wisest person can never obtain complete understanding of the subject, without hearing opinions of the others, and examining a variety of ideas about the matter. A feature of a wise man is an ability and readiness to take even contradictory points of view into account, in spite of avoiding them (Mill, p.5). Mill believed, that his society restricted necessary discussion, because people were not really sure about their beliefs and fearful to loose them, because loosing them means a necessity to change. And in order to avoid changes, society oppresses opinions by authority,   by refusal to hear, or by condemnation. The way out for Mill was mental well-being and education of humanity, combined with freedom of expressing opinions. An opinion should not only be proposed, but suffered by an individual, and this makes a particular opinion his own (Mill, p. 6).