However, he cautioned that there was a philosophical danger lurking beneath such an experiment of transgression. There is a connection, in Foucault's view, between the brief article `What is Enlightenment' and Kant's three Critiques, for Kant describes the Enlightenment as the moment when humanity is going to put its own reason to use, without subjecting itself to any authority. Characterized by Foucault: 1. 31, Issue. Lastly, the precise nature of the Enlightenment, the supposed universality of its values (namely, rationality, tolerance, and equality of rights) and the worth of its “Grand Narratives” of emancipation continue to be debated in discussions of the origins of modernity involving thinkers as diverse as Habermas and Foucault. Refusal of 'blackmail of the Enlightenment' ... III. to Foucault, Habermas praised Foucault’s boundary transgres-sion as a culturally signifi cant event. The What Is Enlightenment? The first being that we must represent the present as if it belonged to a certain era of the world very different from the other. Enlightenment modifies pre-existing relations of will, authority, use of reason ... B. Foucault beings in his article ‘What is Enlightenment’ by outlining three various ways used by philosophers to represent the present. The ensuing section sketches Foucault's reading of Kant's piece, with an eye to the distinction between the transcendental version of critique practiced in the three Critiques, and critique as Enlightenment, the attitude characterized by the will not to be poorly or excessively governed. Many commentators have noted a marked change of emphasis in Foucault's later thinking about issues of truth, ethics, and social responsibility. Summary… Foucault defines Enlightenment as “a modification of the pre-existing relation linking will, authority and the use of reason”. This view of Foucault continues to turn up from time to time: for example, see Jonathan Israel, Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights 1750-1790 (Oxford, 2011) 23-24. For Foucault in his own essay on Enlightenment, by contrast, what is most striking and instructive about Kant’s work is the fact that he questioned the standing of philosophy in his own time, compared to the way it had been done before the 18th century (which was very different from Plato through Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes and Spinoza). Negatively a. 1, p. 103. Foucault introduces the hypothesis that Kant’s essay is an outline of the attitude of modernity and stresses that what connect us with the Enlightenment is a permanent critique of … Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. Foucault’s experiment had reduced the enlightenment project and modernity to a … ... Summary. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol. Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and … Foucault and Nietzsche: Reply to Norris.