The Enlightenment is a period when the vocabulary of the rights of men are developed, it is

when the ideas that govern a moral, rational and civil society and how to achieve it are born. In a
period of great intellectual progress, there is necessarily agreement, disagreement, discourse and
debate, and between two of the central figures of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant and
Voltaire, on the question of What is the Enlightenment?, there is an essential disagreement on
the fundamental character of the Enlightenment tolerance (Voltaire) or courage (Kant) although they do agree in the importance of freedom for man.
To Kant. the Enlightenment is mens emergence from his self-imposed immaturity (Kant, pp1),
by which he means the ability of people common or noble, to dissolve their laziness, pick up the
courage to use the reason that they all inherently have. He believes this to be the shackles men
bind themselves by to their guardians and their immaturity.
On the other hand, to Voltaire, tolerance of others opinions, whether they be truth or folly, is the
key to an enlightened society. Tolerance is a consequence to humanity (Voltaire, p1) with peace
and understanding arising from under its wings.
Kant is the more sophisticated but less flamboyant of the two writers, writing that the public, if
it is only allowed freedom, will inevitably attain enlightenment. Although he admits that there
are numerous obstacles to enlightenment, including those that their guardians place in front of
them, he believes them to be more about difficulty than impossibility. For man must awake from
his dogmatic slumber as autonomous creatures of reason (WC, p551). In this he is different
from Voltaire, who makes tolerance the centerpiece of his writing; a consequence of humanity
(Voltaire, p1). Voltaire appears to be implying in his text that an enlightened society is one that
respects the errors that we, as limited beings, make, and implies that tolerance and the

subsequent freedom it entails will bring about the knowledge needed to counter oppressive
authorities.
While we note that Voltaire was not directly addressing the process of Enlightenment, he was
directly addressing some of the current issues of the day that the Enlightenment was dealing
with: arbitrary unchecked authority, religious toleration and the importance of law, reason
and human dignity in all affairs (WC, p548). Voltaire holds freedom to express ones opinions in
high regard and here tolerance becomes a natural extension to it, to resolve any individuals
weakness for a collective strength.
Despite their disagreements on what is the most important factor in the Enlightenment, the
authors do have remarkably similar ideas on the importance of freedom to the Enlightenment.
Both Kant and Voltaire believes that the dogma of the church is the central obstacle to an
Enlightened society; for making its flock dumb and terrified of using its reason (Kant), and for
being the most intolerant, perpetuating great discord and dividing the world (Voltaire). In this
Kant goes beyond mere rhetoric: foreboding new prejudice leashing the public just as old ones,
distinguishing between private and public reason and proposing ways for his King to enable his
subjects more.
To conclude, we find that Kant and Voltaire, while agreeing on the importance of freedom in the
Enlightenment, disagree on what is the most crucial aspect of it, tolerance or courage. As we
move to the present age plagued still by religious dogma and fanaticism, their ideas and
agreement, not their disagreement seem increasingly relevant.