Kant And Jonathan Swift s Style Of Satire - 1466 Words

Immanuel Kant and Jonathan Swift, together, provide an in depth look at enlightenment, when applying Kant’s definition from An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? to Swift’s style of satire in The Lady’s Dressing Room. If society’s reliance on social media in 2016 is analyzed in relation to this definition and genre of writing, it is easy to track the hindrance of media’s use to individual enlightenment through the user’s own inability to see themselves in the outpouring of content on Facebook timelines to Snapchat feeds. With so much seeming to go wrong in the world today, sometimes it is hard to see progress towards an enlightened future. Society relies on outside platforms like social media to keep them up to date on the continuously evolving world around them—a reliance that is backpedaling the progress society has made so far. Immanuel Kant would say this reliance is a â€Å"self-incurred immaturity† or the de terrence of enlightenment (Kant). His definition of enlightenment directly exhibits why America is not moving forward and how enlightenment begins with the individual. Kant states, â€Å"Enlightenment is mankind’s exit from its self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to make use of one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. Self-incurred is this inability if its cause lies not in the lack of understanding but rather in the lack of the resolution and courage to use it without guidance of another. Sapere aude! Have the courage to