Enlightenment And Counter-Enlightenment: The Consciousness Of Human Reaso

The consideration of the question of enlightenment is a continuous and eternally valuable issue in the history of Western philosophy.Enlightenment is the ultimate concern that human beings have imposed on themselves throughout human history.This thesis mainly carries out six parts,including the introduction,the main part of four chapters and the concluding remarks,to argue the concept,course,theme and reflection of Enlightenment respectively,and draw the theoretical conclusion that Enlightenment acquires a critical essence because of its tension between reason and freedom,and that Enlightenment will never stop and is always on the way.In the first chapter,the conceptual exposition of enlightenment,mainly the Chinese and Western lexical analysis of the concept of enlightenment and the philosophical connotation of the concept of enlightenment are elaborated.The traditional Chinese interpretation of the concept of enlightenment contains the meaning of removing obscurantism and promoting wisdom,and the Chinese interpretation of "enlightenment" is similar to the modern concept of enlightenment introduced from the West in terms of basic meaning,but at the same time it has undergone serious impact from the modern Western concept of enlightenment.The use of the metaphor of light and illumination in the Western context to express "enlightenment" is not only a special use in the development of Western philosophy in the 18 th century,but has been used in ancient Greek philosophy,the source of the development of Western philosophy,the most representative one being The most representative ones are Plato’s "metaphor of the sun," "metaphor of the line," and "metaphor of the hole" which represent the meaning of enlightenment.While most philosophers have used metaphors and similes to clarify the meaning of enlightenment,Kant,through his famous answer to the concept of enlightenment,sees the creation of enlightenment as the conscious use of reason.By defining the subject of enlightenment,the question of enlightenment was given a real starting point.Two hundred years later,Foucault consciously used the term "enlightenment" in a philosophical sense,and reinterpreted the concept of "enlightenment" with a new approach to enlightenment and the spirit of enlightenment.In the second chapter,the history of enlightenment is discussed,and the path that enlightenment has taken in the history of mankind is sorted out,because the formation,occurrence,and meaning of enlightenment have been generated in history from the beginning to the end.The Enlightenment unfolded and focused differently in each European country.For this reason,using history as the vertical coordinate and social evolution as the horizontal coordinate,the course of Enlightenment in the modern West can be divided into the humanism of the European Renaissance,the Enlightenment of British empiricism,the Enlightenment of French rationalism,and the Enlightenment of German philosophical theory.The significance of the Enlightenment embodied in the Renaissance movement lies in the individualistic spirit of enlightenment advocated and the transformation from faith to reason practiced.The significance of the English Enlightenment lies in the formation of the mainstream philosophical Enlightenment theory of empiricism and the systematic theory of natural law.The significance of the French rationalist Enlightenment is to act in accordance with the spirit of order and reason,and to demonstrate this identity and realize its mission in theoretical reflection and practical criticism.The significance of the Enlightenment of German philosophical theory is to rebel against abstract rationalism,to nurture German national thought,to strengthen German national consciousness,and to evoke national self-consciousness.In the thematic exposition of the Enlightenment in Chapter 3,it is analyzed that the Enlightenment has reason and freedom as its fundamental thrust,with reason as the principle and foundation of the Enlightenment and freedom as its ultimate goal.An analysis of reason and freedom,which constitute the core concepts of enlightenment,is developed.The basic categories of irrationality,rationality,rationalism,and irrationalism associated with the concept of rationality are compared,and the ontological dimension,cognitive dimension,ethical dimension,and pragmatic dimension of rationality are argued in four dimensions: ontological,epistemological,value theory,and pragmatic.In the elaboration of the connotation of freedom as a goal of the Enlightenment,it is inseparable from the discussion of the relationship with "necessity" to consider the essence of freedom,and the concept of "freedom" is also defined in the context of the relationship between the individual and the whole,the individual and others.Freedom can be divided into positive freedom and negative freedom according to its properties and functions.It can be said that there is no enlightenment without reason and freedom,and the purpose of enlightenment is to give people the freedom to use reason in all things and to carry out this principle to the end.Enlightenment is the conscious use of reason and the realization of the free nature of all people,not the enlightenment of the majority of the ignorant populace by a few prophets and seers.In the fourth chapter,the reflective discourse of the Enlightenment is organized around a discussion of the spirit and practice of the Enlightenment and an analysis of the variations of the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment,with the aim of clarifying the nature of the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment and showing that mankind will always walk on the path of the Enlightenment no matter how much progress it has made.The Enlightenment has been criticized and obstructed by the church and the government since its inception,and the Enlightenment and the Counter-Enlightenment have often been entangled.In the twentieth century,a series of problems brought about by industrial society and modernization were exposed,and people began to consciously reflect on modern thought and theory and the modern society and modernity that they brought about,and one of the main themes was the criticism of the Enlightenment.In the wake of the large-scale industrial revolution and the resulting negative effects of big industry,the dialectical thought of Enlightenment by Hegel and the pioneers of the Frankfurt School argues for the necessity of Enlightenment towards reflection.Contemporary empiricist philosophers have criticized or rejected Enlightenment,and the search for the roots of their rejection of Enlightenment and their move toward anti-Enlightenment becomes the theoretical reflection point of this chapter.In the concluding part of the dissertation,it is clarified that confronting human rationality and confirming the limits of rationality,enlightenment is the free use of reason to bring people to maturity,while superstitious enlightenment is a betrayal of enlightenment,and only by consciously reflecting on enlightenment can the profound meaning of enlightenment be revealed.Enlightenment is an ongoing process of movement,and through this ongoing process of enlightenment,people continue to achieve self-improvement.