Sapere aude

"Sapere aude" is a latin phrase and can be translated in "dare to be wise". It is part of a sentence in the so called "First Book of Letters", written 20BC by the famous roman poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 60BC-8BC):

Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet; sapere aude, incipe. - The one who has begun is half done. Dare to be wise: begin!

Horace wanted to convince his fellow citizens to overcome their idleness and to strive for the acquisition of worldly wisdom.

In 1784, the renowned philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), who lived in Königsberg (today called Kaliningrad) composed an essay called "What is enlightenment?". Kant was one of the masterminds of the enlightenment, an intellectual movement that started in the 18th century.

In his essay he wrote:

"Enlightenment is the egression of the human being from it's self-inflicted immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's mind without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-inflicted if the cause of it lies not in the lack of mind, but in the resolution and the courage to use it without the guidance of another. Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own mind! is therefore the principle of the Enlightenment".

Immanuel Kant identified enlightenment with the process of the undertaking to think for oneself, to employ and rely on one’s own intellectual capacities in determining what to believe and how to act. In his essay "What is enlightenment?" he determined that "sapere aude" should be the main mission statement of the enlightenment:

Trust your own intellect! 

Confronted by the ongoing climate change and the worldwide more and more life-threatening consequences we should reflect on the sagacious background of the phrase "sapere aude" and should act accordingly.

We should collectively and immediately become more wise and begin to extenuate the climate change!

© Quintus Horatius Flaccus

© Immanuel Kant