Human Enlightenment: a Comparison of Kant and Newman
The Progress of Scientific Investigation and Human Enlightenment
Elizabeth Schiller
Nature and Person
Ave Maria University
Prof. Potrykus
11/16/12
The pursuit of human enlightenment has been the object of learned men in every age and in every culture. Though the methods of such men have varied in time and space, those who have achieved any notable plateaus of illumination have done so through systematic and unbiased reasoning. This organization of rational progression has been called many things, though for the sake of uniformity within this composition, it shall be given the label “scientific investigation.” The steps used in a scientific investigation are ordered to follow a universally logical and coherent process, which can be applied not only to the sciences but also to logic, philosophy, mathematics, and all other pursuits that require a solid cognitive basis. To be worthy of the status attributed to scientific investigation, the execution of such methods must include clarity of mind, openness to refutation, patience, and review, though the exact phases of different applications may vary. Two perspectives on the role of scientific investigation in human enlightenment that hold evidence of truth but present seemingly conflicting theses are those of Immanuel Kant and John Henry Newman. These great thinkers respectively maintain the opposing positions that the achievement of enlightenment is possible if one is allowed to utilize reason to explore a subject freely and publically and, conversely, that enlightenment can only be attained through careful analysis and a limitation of deference to human involvement.
The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant stated in his essay, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?, “nothing is required for this enlightenment…except freedom…namely, the freedom to use reason publically in all matters (Kant).” The initial freedom of which Kant speaks is, no doubt, the ability of Man to engage his senses,
Elizabeth Schiller
Nature and Person
Ave Maria University
Prof. Potrykus
11/16/12
The pursuit of human enlightenment has been the object of learned men in every age and in every culture. Though the methods of such men have varied in time and space, those who have achieved any notable plateaus of illumination have done so through systematic and unbiased reasoning. This organization of rational progression has been called many things, though for the sake of uniformity within this composition, it shall be given the label “scientific investigation.” The steps used in a scientific investigation are ordered to follow a universally logical and coherent process, which can be applied not only to the sciences but also to logic, philosophy, mathematics, and all other pursuits that require a solid cognitive basis. To be worthy of the status attributed to scientific investigation, the execution of such methods must include clarity of mind, openness to refutation, patience, and review, though the exact phases of different applications may vary. Two perspectives on the role of scientific investigation in human enlightenment that hold evidence of truth but present seemingly conflicting theses are those of Immanuel Kant and John Henry Newman. These great thinkers respectively maintain the opposing positions that the achievement of enlightenment is possible if one is allowed to utilize reason to explore a subject freely and publically and, conversely, that enlightenment can only be attained through careful analysis and a limitation of deference to human involvement.
The Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant stated in his essay, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?, “nothing is required for this enlightenment…except freedom…namely, the freedom to use reason publically in all matters (Kant).” The initial freedom of which Kant speaks is, no doubt, the ability of Man to engage his senses,
Bibliography: 1. Kant, Immanuel. 1784. “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” Konigsberg, Prussia. Accessed November 12, 2012. http://theliterarylink.com/kant.html 2. Newman, John Henry. 1826. “Sermon 1. The Philosophical Temper, First Enjoined by the Gospel.” The National Institute for Newman Studies, 2007. Accessed November 12, 2012. http://www.newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon1.html