What+is+Enlightenment


 * =Title= || What is Enlightenment ||
 * =Author= || Michel Foucault ||
 * =Date= || 1984 ||
 * =Summary By= || Sonja E. Kelly ||
 * =Summary= || Key Quote: "I have been seeking, on the one hand, to emphasize the extent to which a type of philosophical interrogation--one that simultaneously problematizes man's relation to the present, man's historical mode of being, and the constitution of the self as an autonomous subject--is rooted in the Enlightenment. On the other hand, I have been seeking to stress that the thread that may connect us with the Enlightenment is not faithfulness to doctrinal elements, but rather the permanent reactivation of an attitude--that is, of a philosophical ethos that could be described as a permanent critique of our historical era" (6).

In "What is Enlightenment?" Foucault analyzes and extends Kant's "Was ist Aufklarung?" and asks the question: "What, then, is this event that is called the //Aufklarung// and that has determined, at least in part, what we are, what we think, and what we do today?" (1).

He first summarizes and highlights key points in Kant's text:
 * Kant's text reflects on itself and this moment in history in a new way. He defines "enlightenment" in the negative. Enlightenment is, for Kant, a "way out," releasing individuals from their own immaturity.
 * The mechanisms for how this happens are ambiguous--individuals at once are both elements and agents in the process.
 * When Kant uses "mankind," it is unclear whether he is referring to everyone individually or some sort of holistic social movement. What is important is that reason is both private and also public--and as such is exercised in different ways in the private and the public sphere.

For Foucault, Kant's essay exemplifies a turning point, at which critique becomes necessary in the context of enlightenment. Kant's essay is positioned at a crossroads of criticism and historical reflection. Foucault identifies this as the attitude of modernity (as opposed to a historical period). At this point, Foucault characterizes the attitude of modernity by referring to Baudelaire.

He critiques this attitude both negatively and positively. Negatively, the idea of reason and humanism have been wrongly tied up in the Enlightenment, and Foucault shows the limits of such a connection. Positively, however, Enlightenment brought us an awareness of criticism--reflecting on the limits of reason and knowledge, testing knowledge against experience, and a jumping off point from which we can begin to philosophize.

Foucault then goes on to engage with four crucial elements that are essential to the project of the philosopher:
 * 1) Stakes: capabilities are inherently connected to power relations.
 * 2) Homogeneity: both through technology and through strategy manifested in practice, people do things the same as others do, and construct a homogenous world.
 * 3) Systems: there are systemic relations that determine that 1) we are subjects of our knowledge 2) we both exercise and submit to power relations, and 3) we are moral subjects of our actions.
 * 4) Generality: historico-critical questions must be answered with generally broadly applicable conclusion in their historical context.

Conclusion: Kant calls us to have a self-critical attitude, and it is clear that Foucault is going to use this self-critical attitude in his own work in order to produce a methodological and theoretical coherence. ||
 * =Discussion points= || Kant believed that there are categorical assertions of right and wrong--that there are absolutes. What does Foucault's use of Kant add to his philosophy? How does Foucault selectively highlight Kant's thinking here?

Foucault's pinpointing of an Enlightenment //attitude// rather than a moment in time is a strategic choice. How does this focus on attitude change how we think about the enlightenment, and also how we think about Kant's category of "mankind?"

What does historical context matter, both to Kant and also to Foucault? Is there a conflict there? || = = = = = = = = = = = =

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