Religious and Intellectual Enlightenment in Kant

Abstract

Kant presented an essay on enlightenment in which he called for liberation from the self-imposed immaturity that man has inflicted upon himself, and from his inability to use his own reason without the guidance of external authority. Therefore, he called for the independence of reason, and this knowledge was reflected in his well-known critical work: Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, and Critique of the Power of Judgment. Therefore, he introduced the intellectual enlightenment as the knowledge of limits and tools of the reason, directing his critiques to any illusions that control the mind. On the other hand, he also criticized the traditional form of religion, advocating for a moral, rational religion, rooted in respect for the moral law within us. For Kant, Enlightenment -whether it is religious or intellectual- is the liberation of the intellectual dependency and external authority that influences one’s judgment.