Kant’ın Aydınlanma Anlayışı: Tarihi Arka Planı ve Aydınlanmada Eğitimin Rolü

Öz

Kant bireyin aydınlanmasını insanın kendi suçu ile düşmüş olduğu bir ergin olmama durumundan kurtulması olarak tanımlar. Bu tanımda aydın olamayan bireyler başarısızlıklarından kendileri sorumlu tutulur. Zira bu metinde Kant, aydın bireyler olabilmemiz için gereken tek şeyin –mental olarak sağlıklı her bireyde var olan- düşünme kapasitesini kullanabilmek olduğunu ima eder. Aklını kullanma cesareti ve azmi gösteren herkesin aydın olabileceğini iddia etmesi sebebiyle Kant’ın eşitlikçi bir aydınlanma anlayışını olduğu düşünülebilir. Ancak bu metne daha yakından baktığımızda ve Kant’ın diğer metinlerine danıştığımızda, bireyin aydın olup olmamasında bireyin kontrolü dışındaki başka bir faktörün daha rol oynadığını görüyoruz. Bu faktör de bireyin yetiştirilme tarzı ve aldığı eğitimdir. Eğer aydın olmamızda aldığımız eğitimin rolü varsa ve aydın bireyler olabilmek için herkes gerekli olan eğitimi alamıyorsa, Kant’ın aydınlanma konusunda elitist bir yaklaşıma sahip olduğunu düşünebiliriz. Bu çalışmada bireyin aydınlanması konusunda Kant’ın metinlerinde görünür bir gerilim olduğuna işaret edilecektir. Kant’ın aydınlanma konusunda kendi dönemine hâkim olan Platoncu aydınlanma anlayışından ve buna bağlı olarak gelişen elitist tavırdan farklı olarak Stoacı aydınlanma anlayışını benimsediği ve dolayısıyla da eşitlikçi bir tutum sergilediği gösterilerek bu gerilim çözümlenecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kant
• Aydınlanma
• Eğitim
• Disiplin
• Kültür
• Ahlak Eğitimi

Kant’s Conception of Enlightenment: The Historical Background and the Role of Education for Enlightenment

Öz

Kant defines enlightenment of the individual as emergence of the individual from a self-imposed immaturity. In this definition, individuals who are not enlightened are held responsible for their failures. This is because Kant, in this text, implies that the only thing we need in order to be enlightened as individuals is to be able to use our capacity to think, which is present in every mentally fit individual. One can infer that Kant has an egalitarian understanding of enlightenment, since anyone who has the courage and determination to use their mind can be enlightened. However, when the text is examined more closely and Kant's other writings are consulted, it becomes clear that another factor beyond the individual's control plays a role in whether an individual is enlightened. This factor is the individual's upbringing and education. If Kant admits that the education one receives plays a role in one’s state of being enlightened, and if not everyone is exposed to the education necessary to become an enlightened individual, then Kant would have an elitist approach to enlightenment. In this article, I will first point out the visible tension in Kant’s texts about the enlightenment of the individual. This apparent tension, however, will be resolved by showing that Kant stands in opposition to the Platonic account of enlightenment and the elitist attitude attached to it, and instead adopts a Stoic account of enlightenment and thereby develops an egalitarian approach to enlightenment.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kant
• Enlightenment
• Education
• Discipline
• Culture
• Moral Education

Kaynakça

1. Aristoteles. (1941). Nichomachean Ethics. The Basic Works of Aristotle, (Ed: Richard McKeon), Random House, New York.
2. Basedows, J. B. (1771). Das Methodenbuch für Väter und Mütter der Familien und Völker. Vol:1-2, Zur Elementarishen Bibliothek, Fritsch.
3. Beck, L. W. (1978). Kant on Education. Essays on Kant and Hume, New Haven, Yale University Press.
4. Biester, J. E. (1783). Der gefürchtete elfte Julius in Berlin. Berlinische Monatsschrift, 2, 143-50.
5. Bock, F. S. (1780). Lehrbuch der Erziehungskunst zum Gebrauch für christliche Eltern und künftige Jugendlehrer, Hartung.
6. Deligiorgi, K. (2005). Kant and the Culture of Enlightenment. SUNY Press, Albany.
7. Dustdar, F. (2001). Kant und die politische Kultur der Berliner Aufklärung. Kant Und Die Berliner Aufklärung: Akten des Ix. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses. (Ed: Ralph Schumacher, Rolf-Peter Horstmann ve Volker Gerhardt), 156-165, De Gruyter.
8. Eberhard, J. A. (1783). Über den Ursprung der Fabel von der weissen Frau. Berlinische Monatsschrift, 1, 3-22.

9. Fleischacker, S. (2013). What is Enlightenment? Routledge.
10. Hatfield, G. (2003). What Were Kant’s Aims in the Deduction? Philosophical Topics, 31, 1/2, 165–98.
11. Hellmuth, E. (1998). Enlightenment and Freedom of the Press: The Debate in the Berlin Mittwochsgesellschaft, 1783–1784. History, 83, 420-444.
12. Hinske, N. (1977). Was ist Aufklärung? Beitrage aus der Berlinischen Monatsschrift, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
13. Hume, D. (2000). A Treatise of Human Nature, (Ed: David Fate Norton ve Mary J. Norton), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
14. Israel, J. (2006). Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
15. Kant, I. (1756a). “Von den Ursachen der Erderschütterungen bei Gelegenheit des Unglücks, welches die westliche Länder von Europa gegen das Ende des vorigen Jahres betroffen hat”, Kant's gesammelte Schriften (1902), (Ed: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 1., 417–427, G. Reimer, Berlin.
16. Kant, I. (1756b) “Geschichte und Naturbeschreibung der merkwürdigsten Vorfälle des Erdbebens, welches an dem Ende des 1755sten Jahres einen großen Theil der Erde erschüttert hat”, Kant's gesammelte Schriften (1902), (Ed: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 1., 429–461, G. Reimer, Berlin.
17. Kant, I. (1756c) “Immanuel Kants fortgesetzte Betrachtung der seit einiger Zeit wahrgenommenen Erderschütterungen”, Kant's gesammelte Schriften (1902), (Ed: Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 1., 463–472, G. Reimer, Berlin.
18. Kant, I. (1784) “Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?”, Kants gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 8., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
19. Kant, I. “Kritik der Reinen Vernunft”, Kants gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 3., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
20. Kant, I. “Kritik der praktischen Vernunft”, Kants gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bd. 5., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
21. Kant, I. “Kritik der Urteilskraft”, Kants gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 5., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
22. Kant, I. “Metaphysik der Sitten”, Kant’s gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 6., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
23. Kant, I. “Vorlesungen über Ethik”, Kant’s gesammelte Schriften (1900-), (Ed: Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), Bd. 27., Walter de Gruyter, Berlin.
24. Kant, I. (2012). “On the Causes of Earthquakes”, (Çev: Olaf Reinhardt), Natural Science, (Ed: Eric Watkins), 327–36, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
25. Kant, I. (2007). Eğitim Üzerine (Ruhun Eğitimi-Ahlaki Eğitim-Pratik Eğitim), (Çev: A. Aydoğan), Say Yayınları.
26. Laursen, J. C. (1996). The Subversive Kant: The Vocabulary of ‘Public’ and ‘Publicity’. What Is Enlightenment?: Eighteenth-Century Answers and Twentieth-Century Questions, (Ed: James Schmidt), 253-269, University of California Press, Berkeley.
27. Lestition, S. (1993). Kant and the End of the Enlightenment in Prussia. The Journal of Modern History, 65, 1: 57–112.
28. Louden, R. B., (2012). Not a Slow Reform, but a Swift Revolution. Kant and Education: Interpretations and Commentary, (Ed: K. Roth and C. W. Suprenant), 39-54, Routledge.
29. Lundy, A. N. (2013). Plato’s Republic as Metaphor for Enlightenment: Part I. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 4/4), 391-407.
30. Morris, J. (1973). Descartes’ Natural Light. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 11/2, 169-187.
31. Munzel, G. F. (2003). Kant on Moral Education or ‘Enlightenment’ and the Liberal Arts. The Review of Metaphysics, 57/1, 43-73.
32. Munzel, G. F. (2019). Kant’s Conception of Pedagogy: Toward Education for Freedom. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 38, 343–345.
33. Munzel, G. F. (2012). Kant’s Conception of Pedagogy: Toward Education for Freedom, Northwestern University Press.
34. Neiman, S. (2012). We Don’t Have Thirty Years Reflections on Lisbon’s Earthquake. Philosophical Readings, 4/3, 35-41.
35. Ökten, K. H. (2016). Kant ve Prusya’da Dini Sansür. İstanbul Kemerburgaz Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 1/1, 87 – 101
36. Özcangiller, İ. B. (2019). Stoacı Ruh Öğretisi Bağlamında Duygu ve Akıl İlişkisi. Kutadgubilig Felsefe ve Bilim Araştırmaları, 39, 189-212.
37. Rousseau, J. J., Emile, Dover Publications, New York.
38. Schmidt, J. (1989). The Question of Enlightenment: Kant, Mendelsohn, and the Mittwochsgesellschaft. Journal of the History of Ideas, 50/2, 269-291.
39. Seneca, L. A, (2020). Yaşamın Kısalığı Üzerine, (Çev: B Demiriş & B. Özcangiller) Epsilon Yayınevi, İstanbul.
40. Williams, D. L. (2010). Rousseau's Platonic Enlightenment, Penn State Press.
41. Vatansever, S. (2018). Kant’s Definition of Enlightenment: Are We Really Free to Be Enlightened? Violetta Waibel, Margit Ruffing & David Edward Wagner (eds.), Natur und Freiheit: Akten des XII. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. 2615-2622.