Modern philosophy and the definition of philosophy: thinking for oneself

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Abstract

This article investigates the historical and conceptual development of the injunction to “think for oneself” as an essential characteristic of modern philosophy. The study maps the origins of this demand for intellectual autonomy, identifying its roots in the challenge to ecclesiastical infallibility and the principle of Sola Scriptura proposed by Luther, which favored personal, free examination. In modernity, it examines how Descartes utilized geometric reason as a tool for demolishing dogmas, a method followed by Spinoza and Leibniz. Next, the text analyzes the transition to Kant’s critical reason, which pointed out the weaknesses of the purely conceptual mathematical method. Kant redefines freedom of thought based on three axes: the absence of civil coercion, the rejection of coercion in matters of religious conscience, and the submission of reason strictly to the laws it prescribes to itself. Finally, the risks of failing to meet this ideal are addressed, illustrated by the pathological figures of the “logical egoist” and the “mechanical repeater”, concluding with Heidegger's reflections on the arduous learning of the act of thinking. It is argued that autonomy requires constant work of self-criticism and the acknowledgment of one's own ignorance.