Kant and the Enlightenment: "What is Enlightenment?"

Philosophy professor Ellie Anderson explains key ideas associated with the Enlightenment, and discusses Immanuel Kant's essay "What is Enlightenment?" Dare to know!
This video was created for Professor Anderson's Spring 2021 "Continental Thought" course at Pomona College.
For more from Ellie, check out Overthink podcast!
Overthinkpodcast.com

[@GordonGarvey]

So many philosophy channels I've seen in the past do power point slides or animations. I think this in person method is so much more engaging, and you've a good way of communicating with your face and body language that any other way would really be a waste.

[@adrieltrott7482]

I taught medieval and so had students read Galileo toward the end of the course last Spring, and I was struck that contra our common assumptions about Galileo as the observer, his invention isn't so much that we can observe things better with the telescope, but rather that we need mathematics to explain what we observe. So Galileo is already saying we both need to observe and do mathematics, and kind of mocks the Peripatetics for thinking they can just observe the world, as if our observations don't already assume frameworks that enables us to make sense of our observations. Galileo: Kant before Kant.

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

Amazing! I think that fits well with the idea here that Galileo emphasizes not observation with the naked eye, but observation that is mediated technologically and requires observation (albeit perhaps he is closer to Newton than usually given credit for being, given the mathematics focus you point out)

[@adaptercrash]

Reversing it, no wait we wont reverse it and go over here and keep doing it, are you still doing this?

[@Cuisinenomade1]

May be the rulers have good intentions but what they don't have is the best "interest" for everyone at heart.

[@mariovicente]

Kant was actually my main "father figure" growing up, both in a psychological and intellectual sense. Its hard to overstate that. A rock upon which we can see that despite all the craziness and bad stuff everywhere, there is logic to the universe and therefore to living as a human being.

[@jeffzenick4795]

After listening to aroud 2-3 dozen of Your videos, I wrote down something that seems significant to myself - Self-incurred ignorance or immaturity is caused by a lack of determination or courage, rather than a lack of intelligence.....I appreciate you sharing something that I've never been able to put in words.

[@GoldenBeachParty]

Dear Ellie, Your discourse is really brilliant in clarity, and encourages me build on it. As enlightenment begins in the stars, where the explosive nature of matter, energy and gravity began everything, as fission ignited in the sun and planets were formed. And that explosive nature repeated as DNA spiraled into multitudes of cellular organisms, and in multiple orgasms, and then again flashes of brillance within the neuro fibers of the human mind, where discoveries in nature (such as sparking rocks) gave man epithanies of creative technology. The telescope and microscope becoming sources of enlightened comprehension of reality.

[@mirarrix]

Your channel brings me so much joy.

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

We love to hear it! Hope you'll enjoy our podcast as well :) overthinkpodcast.com

[@mkweae44]

I absolutely love your intensity! Thank you.

[@berniv7375]

That was brilliant. Thank you for the video.🌱

[@szelan]

I found it quite fascinating how you described Kant's identification of, shall we say, “catalytic individuals,” in the pursuit of social progress....it is a bit scary to think that this could lead to a type of authoritarianism, and yet I also have in mind an interpretation of Kant’s phrase “Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit,” which to me suggests a sort of compassion for our “self-incurred voicelessness.” if we are indeed bereft of expression, how can it be that our position is “self-incurred?” the same question might be asked, is asked all the time often in not very kind ways, of people trapped in all manner of self-harming dialectics. as you seem to suggest-and i would agree, assuming i understand you correctly -- the solution seems to be to support individual development, and also to seek a social transformation of the conditions of this “Unmündigkeit,” however it is understood.

[@matthewbisso8852]

Interesting video, Professor Anderson. Thanks for posting!

[@Hanzala8956]

Thank you so much for your explanation. It's so easy to grasp it

[@gamedaysam]

I'm a philosophy major in my 2nd yr & i wonder how & why it took me so long to find you but i guess better late than never. Great video

[@julesjgreig]

Love your work thank you

[@wonderfacts7782]

amazing! But don't really understand how Kant put forward the empiricism and rationalism together by his understanding. could you please suggest something or tell a bit about it. thanks for the wonderful video.

[@tiramisuvodka8353]

More Kant pleaseee!!

[@s60049]

thank you! getting ready for my university exam, it was so helpful!

[@Dr-Sardonicus]

Great content. Subscribed.

[@frankrockefeller3038]

The Enlightenment was a detachment from religion. Reason is a coupling of detachment and interest. Our interest was reflected in the profound changes of the industrial revolution.

[@ibtisammuniraalmas4887]

Thanks you! this helped a lot

[@clarascenters-zapico5817]

Amazing lecture!

[@albertsonntag754]

Thanks!

[@dilbyjones]

Great lecture on maturity

[@robertmontgomery6256]

Very clear presentation by just talking and using simple graphics. Somewhat like Mr. Rogers did. 😊

[@vishpenmetsa6211]

Prince Siddharth or Gautam Buddha left his palace at the age of 29 in search of truth led a renunciants(?) life and had enlightenment at the age of 35. Ms Anderson seems to be a professor of philiosophy at the of 28 - showing the success of the western societies and perhaps some way of showing what to learn from the west.

[@vishpenmetsa6211]

Nice lecture for audience like me highlithing the meaning of enlightenment in western context as opposed to buddha and enlightenment. Anyway I hope youtube sees the need for taking notes with different videos as personal comments/observations not really going to public comments

[@yasserwaleedyasserwaleed5578]

Thanks

[@catsaresocute650]

I love how she sais this is less academic, but it's probably requiring more knowlege of understanding how this argumentation works then the longer format she unsed for work on affection and auto affection.

[@Cuisinenomade1]

The idea that man can learn from observation alone is half true since the observation must accompanied by experimentation, that is that the observer experiences as well as observe. By observation alone no man can fully learn, yet this lack of experimentation can be observed and experienced in the wold around us where there are thousands just observing and then repeating as a computer would do, and lacking the experimentation part of Knowledge. Thus a population that believes that just by observing or reading or hearing alone they can attain Knowledge. This makes up for a very simplistic and shallow population of men.

[@BacashMeditation]

You’re good Real good (Warriors movie) First time I’ve heard a clear explanation of the epistemology of the “in itself “ vs “the appearance “

[@Fuyoualliamjacpac]

Nice summary

[@christopherkerr6307]

Wish you were one of my professors!

[@jonnhkost3834]

Brilliant, i’m french but i understood every single word and it’s very interesting 🥳

[@nafeesahmad2973]

Would request you to provide bullet points here in the description, a kind of summary of the facts you are explaining here. It will help me and maybe others to use the facts or major arguments in our writing and teaching

[@starlingmendez186]

Watch the video again and take notes??

[@journeyintothelight7118]

Part of the "enlightenment" is about discovery of our endowed A Priori. I consider the so-called "a priori" a set of "expert-rule" (A.I. term) that are already exist in our minds but we are not aware of them until we start to discover. This "a priori" acts like a set of colored lenses which influences our perception of the world. Part of these "expert rules" are individualized, and part of them are collective.

[@EdgarGiovanniRodriguez]

Love it!

[@kluge1245]

Pg 136? Is that in reference to some course material specific to this college course. Kants essay is only 5 pages long.

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

Hi there! Yes, this is referring to the version assigned in class, from the Basic Writings of Kant, ed. Allen W. Wood (Modern Library, 2001).

[@Rico-Suave_]

Great video, thank you, Watched all of it 9:13

[@nasrinvahidi5515]

It’s so sad that we’re very much Kantian and our school books are still based on his teaching. It’s time to move forward already. Thank you for this video. Excellent job!!!

[@speedlett]

The Enlightenment was good, actually

[@user-dz1cu8cy7l]

谢谢，传递

[@bebopbountyhead]

Eyo Kant! What's "progress," and how do you justify it?

[@chrispriest7167]

It would have been nice to mention Comte and his idea of Positivism in this video. He also thinks that you can only know what you can observe just like Kant. Then again, Comte and Kant have very similar sounding names, so it might have just made the video more confusing...

[@garliclasagna]

I refute the claim that humans are becoming more free and intelligent... I think we have become more subservient to corporate greed, it has left us no choice but to scavenge for crumbs...

[@kaldie5983]

well we are becoming more free an intelligent thats the case of evolution of our nervous system which is how we understand the environment, but capitalist tradition is now poisoning a vast majority of us

[@scasey1960]

Again, the third lecture is the third to last video of the playlist .

[@goback3spaces]

I Kant deal with this

[@shahbaksh2915]

Was that light bulb animation supposed to wake up your students during the lecture or something? Because I think it just ruptured my left ear drum xD

[@billgalen9014]

So where does reason come from? Does it suffer from incompleteness?

[@sahir7700]

Mam how can I reach you?

[@zahidkalam2147]

I would like to follow you, i hope this chennal will be beneficial for me to increase my knowledge. Good luck dear... I would like to know about your major??

[@srikantasarangi7241]

PDF pleas Madam

[@nabazabdullatif6955]

Hi, well done for this brief explanation of Kant, but you did not mentioned the Kantian motto for enlightment era... As you know (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own mind or your understanding," is the first step to defining the other and depend on this gaze to start the colonialism age. Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large part of mankind gladly remain minors all their lives... The results was completely negative for the western society and surely for east societies in particular. Many thanks

[@idicula1979]

Very true, at some point there comes a time for every man and woman to take responsibility of their own future, and make their place in the world. Is there a god, or not, what is the worth of a life it is for us to decide we rise and fall of our own reason. So make them a house built on solid foundation so that they withstand harshest of worldly storms.

[@rustynails68]

Awesome!! I am preparing to give a talk at my alma mater. I want to touch on the enlightenment. I feel that the professors, even with tenure, don’t have the liberty to speak the truth. However, as a guest, I have all of the liberty in the world (universe). I have heard, and been exposed to examples where students have become intolerant of opposing opinions. The universities are supporting these views. Freedoms are vanishing. Dark ages are ahead. We desperately need to restore the university experience. Our students are graduating with the same tiny universe that the had when they started. For that, they should try to get their money back.

[@scasey1960]

Again, the second lecture is the second to last video in this playlist. Go, figure.

[@priyamastibhati]

Why is Kant silent on Shankara who seems to be godfather of the modern “enlightenment” and “freedom” Body of Knowledge?

[@jamalnasir3099]

Could you at some point do a video on Orientalism? Your example of the can of drink was a good illustration of how European Orietalists observed people in the East and recorded it all (and according to Edward Said called it 'knowledge'). This is a serious topic because some Orientalists assisted Colonialism with their work based on their perception without any deep understanding of the values of each society they examined (which is definitely not anything cool or undepressing contrary to what you described Kant believed). I do not necessarily assume that you defend that point about perception.

[@LeopardKing-im4bm]

Reason produces the same ethical impact as a hand held calculator. Factual cogency does count for something, but it contains zero virtue. The ancients lead us astray on that point.

[@arcanuslosanara2823]

Oddly if you burnt a witch at the stake, it was called enlightenment, but if the witch had created gold out of stone, it was deemed science.

[@Cuisinenomade1]

Although Reason can be seen as God.

[@BlantonDelbert]

I would put Mathematics with Empiricism not Rationalism. In other words, I see Newton as an Empiricist not a Rationalist.

[@thomasjaggers3576]

Copernicus

[@evad7933]

You must worry that do do not properly capture the thoughts of philosophers you deal with. This interpretation of Kant appears to be rather generous of humanity. I seriously doubt that there is much a priori-type reasoning employed in the average human life. Lots of primitive induction only ... the sort of thing lower animals do. Btw, if object A (the Earth, say) rotates around object B (the sun, say) then object B rotates about object A. It is a mutual relationship between the two.

[@kshitijbali5569]

I believe you are limiting yourself by staying with Kant. And you are limiting the definition of enlightenment by thinking it means critical thought. Critical thought isn't enlightenment, its just questioning, its not understanding. And Kant's presumption that a few people have the "ability" to achieve enlightenment is rather reaching. All people have the ability to understand, the universal system around us has a way of teaching and pointing out our faults, and eventually everyone grasps the truth in their own vocabulary.

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

the video...is a video about Kant's essay "What is Enlightenment"

[@bobcabot]

i take that back! sorry! ( im "moody" - do you know?

[@iMusicShuffle]

So I wonder what the means if you are the type of person who thinks about what other people think all the time. May never be a free person

[@albertsonntag754]

Thanks!

[@mr.finley3588]

Thanks