According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, the Enlightenment was the precondition for his philosophy. Kant believed that enlightenment was the process of coming out of one’s own self-incurred immaturity. He believed that people were born with a kind of veil over their minds, which prevented them from seeing things as they truly were. This veil was removed by education and experience. Once this veil was removed, people could think rationally and independently.
Immanuel Kant called this process “Enlightenment.” He said that it happened when people began to think differently about themselves and their world. For example, he said that before Enlightenment people thought they were subject to fate and chance, but after Enlightenment they realized they could control their own lives and destinies through reason and knowledge.
Kant believed that Enlightenment was the precondition for his philosophy because it allowed him to argue that reason could be used to determine right from wrong, good from bad and true from false without relying on religious faith or tradition alone (known as rationalism).
Also Kant believed that enlightenment meant understanding what it means to be free and autonomous beings by using reason and logic. He thought that using reason allowed people to gain knowledge about themselves and their surroundings, which in turn would help them understand their own freedom better as well as their responsibility towards others.
