sapere aude!

i'm still subscribed to my philosophy class egroup in college. once in a while, i browse through the readings that are being emailed to the group. as i was reading something written by Immanuel Kant in the year 1784, some of the things he said struck me...

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! [dare to know] "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.

If I have a book to serve as my understanding, a pastor to serve as my conscience, a physician to determine my diet for me, and so on, I need not exert myself at all.

... and he goes on about his time being the age of enlightenment and all. i can't really say anything about 1784, but i do know that everything he said still remains true today. that there have been too many "guides" set up for us within the last few decades, centuries even, that people tend to rely on these instead of using their own understanding. traditions keep old teachings and rituals alive, even when they seem out of place already. everything has a dummy book - parenting for dummies, accounting for dummies, etc. each little item you buy includes detailed instructions about it. it's good to share what we know to others, but we must also be aware of the danger of becoming too lazy to think for oneself. it's healthy to question our ways, is what i say. hmmm, do i sound like a rebel?? hehehe.. questioning doesn't necessarily mean contradicting. it's just a manner of learning more about things.

and i know there are rules that are imposed by society, and different people have different views on how to live life, and this causes problems. but it is so much better to discuss and debate on those differing views than to stagnate and live with no progress and growth. we just need to be wise enough to know how to settle the arguments - like agreeing to disagree (kanya kanyang diskarte na lang) and compromising. of course, it should go without saying that we are not to forget the big picture - the effect of our decisions on others and all that yada about world peace.

if in 1784, it was the age of enlightenment, it doesn't follow that we are at an enlightened age already. after all the years that passed, here's to hoping that we still continue to look around us and push for a better understanding of it all.