Freethought and Obedience

Abstract

Kant connects freedom of thought with civil obedience in two distinct ways. In the text about the Enlightenment, the public use of reason would be “the most harmless of all freedoms”, placing itself in paradox with civil freedom. A few years later, in the Conflict of the Faculties, whose preface thematizes obedience in the light of a letter of censorship and its response, Kant defended the prerogative of the Faculty of Philosophy to maintain a legitimate conflict with the higher Faculties, i.e., with the sciences that would be subordinated to the power and orders of an authority. From these texts, we intend to highlight the specificity of a freedom of thought treated more as a public use of reason and not so much as civil freedom. Understanding that such use should not be permitted or prohibited at the discretion of a government, we will think about how Philosophy as a Faculty would contribute to defending this active meaning of public.