Dare to be Wise!

It was almost 240 years ago when the philosopher Immanuel Kant took a stab at defining "enlightenment." Actually, he did more than that. Kant hit a bulls eye as what he articulated in the September, 1784, edition of Berlin Monthly continues to resonate among scholars when they discuss the term with classes and colleagues and ponder the challenges of achieving that state themselves. In a nutshell, Kant described enlightenment as "man's emergence from self-imposed nonage." As defined by Kant, the word "nonage" refers to using one's understanding without another's guidance.

Kant urged people to think for themselves. More to the point, he challenged men and women to "dare to be wise!" It is interesting that as put forth by Kant, he did not mean people should always be correct in their assessments, conclusions or judgments. Rather, to be wise,  he said, was to take what knowledge they have gained and even add input from others, and then make their own determinations. Wisdom comes from demonstrating conviction and even originality of thought. It is no act of wisdom to simply echo another's ideas or thoughts. That can be done by anyone. Sadly, in our current times, we see such unwise acts performed on a regular basis. Perhaps we ourselves are even guilty of that.

How does this relate to communication? Are professional communicators helping or blocking folks from exhibiting wisdom? At best, the answer to this is mixed. Public relations practitioners, for instance, take great pains in devising memorable talking points and in framing discussions in ways that others can both easily understand and repeat. Repetition seems to be their objective rather than instilling wisdom within their targeted publics. On the other hand, journalists are defined by how well they share unbiased information without the fingerprints of others telling them what to say or write. Thus, members of the press seem to be more on the side of spreading wisdom than those who communicate on behalf of others.