Thinking for yourself: putting received opinion to the test of reason

« Sapere aude », dare to know: for Kant, the Enlightenment is man's emergence from his immaturity, the laziness that makes us prefer a ready-made guide to our own judgement. The practice consists in not accepting a claim on the sole authority of tradition, numbers or an expert, but in asking for the reasons and the evidence that support it. Flooded with information and peremptory opinions, we need it more than ever: thinking for yourself is not knowing everything, it is refusing to delegate your judgement.

When when a claim is presented to you as self-evident, in the name of tradition, authority or what « everyone knows »

1. Spot the authority being invoked: who or what is asking you to believe it, and on what grounds? Custom, a figure, a prestigious name, supposed obviousness?
2. Set the authority aside for a moment and ask: what reasons, what evidence would support this claim if no one were vouching for it?
3. Look for what could disprove it, and whether you would recognize that. A claim that no fact could contradict tells you a great deal.
4. Conclude in proportion to your reasons: assent, doubt or suspension. You may follow an expert, but then know that this is a choice, and which one.

Thinking for yourself is not rejecting everything out of a contrarian reflex, nor believing that one opinion is as good as another. Using your reason also means recognizing solid evidence and knowledge better established than your own: autonomy of judgement is not caprice.

Embodied by Kant made Selbstdenken, thinking for oneself, the very maxim of the Enlightenment and the first rule of an understanding free of tutelage.