Jonathan Doron
Seminar in Composition
Dr. Adam Johns
September 23, 2008
Immanuel Kant believes that “enlightenment is man’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity.” (Kant, paragraph 1) He then defines immaturity as “the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another.” (Kant, par. 1) Basically, enlightenment is that point you reach in your life where you can make decisions based on your own instinct and not by the persuasion or guidance of others. While in his essay, Kant continues to write about the political applications of enlightenment, I believe the concept of enlightenment should be focused much more on the progression of an individual throughout his lifetime. Furthermore, I believe that enlightenment is not just a threshold you reach once, but something you experience several times throughout the course of your life.
My first enlightening experience was my Bar-Mitzvah. While this was a purely religious experience and “idealistically” should have led to me taking responsibility onto myself for being the absolute best Jew I could be, it had the opposite effect on me. No longer was I forced to go to synagogue several times a week, and no longer did I have to sit in class being forced to believe that the ancient text in front of me was blueprint for how I should lead my life. I was finally able to go other places and build my own opinion on what I felt to be the “facts of life.” While I do believe in the presence of something greater than I have the power to describe and many of the Jewish morals and principles still hold ground in the decisions I make, I know for a fact that life was created not 10,000 years ago, but hundreds of millions of years ago. I know that man didn’t rise from the earth, but evolved from the most primitive organisms that had once inhabited the earth.
“The pastor says “Do not argue, believe!”” (Kant, par. 5) This pastor must really hope he’s leading an extremely “immature” congregation. Lee Silver would probably go on to say that it’s an ignorant congregation as well. “And yet many people erect mental barriers between factual knowledge and spiritual beliefs.” (Silver, 39) The pastor now not only forces his congregation to refuse the facts and scientific data, keeps them from becoming enlightened as well because his congregation is essentially being told what to believe. I’m going to have to agree with Silver on this one.
I consider myself to be a relatively enlightened person, and that is because I have been able to look at the world around me, determine what is fact and what is fiction, and develop my own opinions. Under the constrictions that religious ideas impose on its followers, “believers” are forced to neglect the indisputable facts presented to them. There is absolutely no way you can truly believe that life was created 10,000 years ago where multitudes of carbon-dated fossils have proven to us that life has been here exponentially longer. The falsely-proven history of religion should not be taken into consideration when planning out the future well-being of mankind. Who would you really rather trust with your future; Silver, who can tell you (with proof) every reason why you are alive today; or, the pastor, who forces ignorance on his congregation and denies the “real” truth?
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3 comments:
I think it is a very interesting piece. The second to the last paragraph was kind of confusing though. You should explain the quotes a little bit more, it would help get the idea across better.
What is the thesis statement? Shouldn't it be towards the end of the introduction. Just a suggestion.
Immanuel Kant believes that “enlightenment is man’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity.” (Kant, paragraph 1) He then defines immaturity as “the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another.” (Kant, par. 1) Basically, enlightenment is that point you reach in your life where you can make decisions based on your own instinct and not by the persuasion or guidance of others. While in his essay, Kant continues to write about the political applications of enlightenment, I believe the concept of enlightenment should be focused much more on the progression of an individual throughout his lifetime. Furthermore, I believe that enlightenment is not just a threshold you reach once, but something you experience several times throughout the course of your life.
My first enlightening experience was my Bar-Mitzvah. While this was a purely religious experience and “idealistically” should have led to me taking responsibility onto myself for being the absolute best Jew I could be, it had the opposite effect on me. No longer was I forced to go to synagogue several times a week, and no longer did I have to sit in class being forced to believe that the ancient text in front of me was blueprint for how I should lead my life. I was finally able to go other places and build my own opinion on what I felt to be the “facts of life.” While I do believe in the presence of something greater than I have the power to describe and many of the Jewish morals and principles still hold ground in the decisions I make, I know for a fact that life was created not 10,000 years ago, but hundreds of millions of years ago. I know that man didn’t rise from the earth, but evolved from the most primitive organisms that had once inhabited the earth.
“The pastor says “Do not argue, believe!”” (Kant, par. 5) This pastor must really hope he’s leading an extremely “immature” congregation. Lee Silver would probably go on to say that it’s an ignorant congregation as well. “And yet many people erect mental barriers between factual knowledge and spiritual beliefs.” (Silver, 39) Here, Silver is saying that people who tend to follow religious beliefs often times choose to ignore the obvious facts presented to them which may contradict their spiritual beliefs. Kant's quote insinuates that the pastor's congregation is encouraged not to argue or debate the religious ideas, but to just believe them despite the world of truth around them. The pastor now not only forces his congregation to refuse the facts and scientific data, but keeps them from becoming enlightened as well. While Silver is trying to encourage his readers to embark on a journey based on truth and laws, the pastor is encouraging his congregation to just follow blindly. I would much rather place the responsibility of my future well-being in the hands of people like Silver.
I consider myself to be a relatively enlightened person, and that is because I have been able to look at the world around me, determine what is fact and what is fiction, and develop my own opinions. Under the constrictions that religious ideas impose on its followers, “believers” are forced to neglect the indisputable facts presented to them. There is absolutely no way you can truly believe that life was created 10,000 years ago when multitudes of carbon-dated fossils have proven to us that life has been here exponentially longer. The falsely-proven history of religion should not be able to confine the plans for our future.. Who would you really rather trust with your future; Silver, who can tell you (with proof) every reason why you are alive today; or, the pastor, who forces ignorance on his congregation and denies the “real” truth?
Jessica - this isn't any kind of useful response!
Jonathan - I think your understanding of enlightenment as a moment (or series of moments) in an individual life is very worthwhile, but you should have tried to either explain how you get that from Kant, or why you are choosing to go in a different direction, since this is obviously distinct from anything that Kant actually says. The second paragraph, on your Bar-Mitzvah, is an interesting continuation of this paragraph.
Then in the next couple paragraphs we get a fundamentally different line of thought. Now you are advocating for Silver and Kant against the pastors. For what it's worth, it's a good beginning; imagining the future as guided by Silver instead of the pastors is an interesting starting point.
But you're doing two different things here - arguing in favor of Silver & against the pastors for part, then redefining enlightenment around the personal for the other part. Both parts are interesting, have potential, and are even well written - but this doesn't add up to an essay!
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