The philosopher of enlightenment Immanuel Kant once wrote “Have the courage to use your own reason”.

People want to be safe, want to be secure. Inquiry is a great tool to acquire this level of security. When you ask someone’s permission to do something, to get on the safe side so you can say “well, I asked” if things go awry. This is a great way to hand over and pass on responsibility very comfortably.

But inquiry brings also a certain big risk with it: you might not get the answer you were sure to hear.

E.g. let’s say you go to your superior and ask, whether it’s OK for you to go home during your lunch break. In this case you have to be prepared that the answer might be no and the superior, wondering where you got the outlandish idea it might be OK to do so in the first place, prohibits it for everyone in their jurisdiction.

This superior – now aware of the fact that people might want to leave during their lunch breaks – creates a new law and could indeed take measures to find out if someone breaks this new law, which is the product of the good willed question.

The inquiring person on the other hand, of course starts to feel locked in and caged, starts to demand their rights and their freedom, stating that all they wanted to do was be on the safe side and resorts to a rather childish stomping of feet and resistance.

So, probably the worst part of “using your own reason” is that you have to take responsibility for your actions and the consequences which come from them.

Another example: Should I decide to cross a road which seems to be free, no cars or vehicles as far as the eye can see, but the red light clearly commands me to stop and wait, I and I alone am responsible when suddenly a car jumps out of hyper-space and runs me over. I cannot claim to have followed the rules of traffic and the car that jumped out of hyper-space to crush me in my way cannot be held accountable.

In one of my previous posts I wrote, that I find being intelligent to be very exhausting. Not only because you think a lot, but especially because you have to think for others as well, most of the time.

To elaborate this thought, traffic is indeed a great example. Where else is it more important, even necessary to constantly keep thinking for all traffic users who are all around – motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike? Always trying to predict what the worst possible action of the other person could be. Exhausting but an absolute must.

To think on your own means thinking about what is reasonable for yourself and the people around you in the situation you’re currently in, not slavishly following a general set of rules defined by others to insure themselves against most, but never all possibilities.

In an episode of House MD. this fictional character said “rules are guidelines for morons who can’t make up their own minds!”. I love this statement.

Of course, knowing this character, you also know that it was only used to get his own way, but it mirrors beautifully what pedants and sticklers in our society are all about and it carries all those religious dogmatic nuts along, who most of all love to slavishly stick to what’s written because they see in it a universal validity.

Granted, it is not easy to use your own mind or reason for that matter and it takes some training and experience. That’s why Kant’s beautiful sentence is not an imperative “use your own reason!” but “have the courage” to do so, which is a big difference. It acknowledges that it takes courage and effort and also that it is easier to just follow rules and thoughts others have already thought. To be on the safe side rather than take the risk and to accept responsibility. It is an encouragement to emancipation.

Maybe the age of enlightenment should have been named age of emancipation – on the other hand, what name would the women rights and equality movement have gotten in that case? But that’s a question better left to a Sci-Fi book author.

The real question I ask myself in so many situations, though is whether I really need someone who thinks so many things on my behalf or if a healthy amount of education, reasoning and mindfulness by me would be enough.

Which answers my own question, I guess. I can’t expect from all people as much education and reasoning. What I can do – and here I position myself very unhumbly beside Mr. Kant – is invite to more courage.