Essays

[Kether]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Boeke's essay on sociocracy; I've been scouring the net for his original writings for a while, and I'm grateful to Thomas for posting a translation here. May I suggest, for the next essay posted in that section, Kant's "An Answer to the Question 'What is Enlightenment'" published in the Berlinischer Monatsschrift in 1784? It's excellent, and Kant's political foresight is spectacular; hopefully, it would provoke some interesting discussions.

[TruthSeeker]

I don't agree with his definition of enlightnment. At least not from the littble bit I read about it in Wikipedia... <_<

[Kether]

I know it is very different from the Eastern concept of 'Enlightenment', but Western Enlightenment values simply are a completely different thing. Basically, there are two different meanings of the word enlightenment. Neither is wrong.
Ironically, I think an excellent summary of what the Enlightenment is was provided by one of its greatest enemies, Michel Foucault, the "boa-deconstructor": "It has to be concieved as an attitude, an ethos, a philosophical life in which the critique of what we are is at one with the critique of the limits that are imposed on us and an experiment with the possibility of going beyond them."

[Thomas Knierim]

I have posted Kant's essay in the Philosophy forum. It appears to be a PD translation, so (hopefully) no problems with copyright there. I hope you enjoy it.

I don't want to put it into the Essay forum, since that place is intended for contemporary writers. Obviously Kees Boeke does not really qualify, but since he was so far ahead of his time, I count him as a contemporary writer. :)

Cheers, Thomas

[Kether]

Much appreciated. Hopefully it'll stimulate some interesting discussion...