Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity.
Kant believes that many people in his time choose to remain immature: leaving the decisions in their lives to others.
“If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all”.
A select few have already cultivated their minds and managed to break free of this immaturity, with the public likely to follow suit.
For this enlightenment to occur, freedom is required, _“freedom to make public use of one’s own reason in all matters” _
He concedes that highly hierarchical structures may temporarily circumvent this freedom. A soldier cannot disobey his senior, an employee cannot simply stop working. They cannot, however, be stopped from addressing the public with concerns they might have in this regard. While, indeed, a soldier may not disobey his superior, he should still be able to observe and voice issues he might have with errors in the military service.
Deciding to stick to one thing - like the example of a clergy that Kant brigs up - without any ability to question or modify it, would lead to stagnation of humanity’s growth, and is therefore inacceptable.
“A man may for his own person, and even then only for a limited period, postpone enlightening himself in matters he ought to know about. But to renounce such enlightenment completely, whether for his own person or even more so for later generations, means violating and trampling underfoot the sacred rights of mankind.”
He also notes that an emperor doing so is no more acceptable than a people imposing such a restriction on themselves - “Caesar non est supra Grammaticos [Caesar is not above the Grammarians]”
“A high degree of civil freedom seems advantageous to a people’s intellectual freedom, yet it also sets up insuperable barriers to it. Conversely, a lesser degree of civil freedom gives intellectual freedom enough room to expand to its fullest extent. Thus once the germ on which nature has lavished most care – man’s inclination and vocation to think freely – has developed within this hard shell, it gradually reacts upon the mentality of the people, who thus gradually become increasingly able to act freely. Eventually, it even influences the principles of governments, which find that they can themselves profit by treating man, who is more than a machine, in a manner appropriate to his dignity.”
In the closing part of the essay Kant argues that a monarch can allow his subjects a high degree of freedom in criticizing his actions and legislative decisions, and if he has the might to make them obey this will bring them, in turn, profit through more mature and overall better legislation.
All of the quotes are taken directly from a collection of essays by Kant - “An Answer to the Question: ‘What is Enlightenment?‘” (from the Penguin Great Ideas series) (I used my own copy, as I started reading it over the weekend, prior to it being posted by the course instructor). The ISBN for said book is 978-0-141-95773-9.