Enlightenment today

300 years after his birth, the Kant anniversary is omnipresent. The Königsberg philosopher Immanuel Kant is still regarded today as a heavyweight in German philosophy history and stands like no other for the Enlightenment and the keywords associated with it – rationality, maturity, freedom, peace. 

However, it is not only recently that sceptics and critics of Kant as a person, his philosophical legacy and the relevance of the Enlightenment as a whole have come forward. Post-colonial schools of thought criticise an immanent racism, while from an ecological point of view, the Enlightenment has a reputation for having paved the way for unbridled growth, excessive individualism and the destruction of nature and the animal world with its fixation on human beings. Many works and theories are considered outdated and difficult to understand. Universalism, peace and human dignity seem to be on the retreat politically and culturally – worldwide. 

This course addresses contemporary global debates and challenges and asks whether and to what extent Enlightenment thinking can make a meaningful contribution to them.  With the help of recognised experts from theory and practice, we will examine topics such as “democracy”, “religion”, “justice”, “freedom” and “post-colonialism”. In the year of the Kant anniversary, we are not just honouring heroes, but asking whether and what students at RWTH can still learn from the Enlightenment and its pioneers today.