Kant and Foucault： The Misread “Enlightenment” and Its Postmodern Intellectual Effects

Kant‘s essay “An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?” is widely discussed and referenced in the discourse of Enlightenment.However,there exists a widespread misunderstanding and divergence regarding the concept of Enlightenment in this essay,particularly manifested in the distinction between the public and private use of reason.Laursen‘s article,“The Subversive Kant: The Vocabulary of ‘Public’ and ‘Publicity’”,furnishes us with a foundational intellectual historical context for comprehending this distinction accurately.Therefore,by connecting Kant‘s other discourses,we can grasp the three-layered complete significance of Kant‘s concept of Enlightenment: “thinking for oneself”,“thinking into the place of the other”,and “thinking consistently with oneself”.Foucault‘s “What is Enlightenment?” represents a partial comprehension of Kant‘s first layer of Enlightenment through the lens of his own deconstructive stance.Thus,it also demonstrates the postmodern intellectual effects of the misread “Enlightenment”.