Moses Mendelssohn and Prudence as an Inseparable Wisdom of Enlightenment

Abstract

In “On the Question: What Is Enlightenment?” of 1784, Mendelssohn affirms that enlightenment that is connected with the essential vocation (wesentlich Bestimmung) of man as man can come into conflict not only with morality –extra-essential vocations (außerwesentlichen Bestimmungen)– but also with his essential vocation of citizen, that is, as a member of a State. In these cases, Mendelssohn states, a certain discretion, a certain prudence (Klugheit), is necessary in the use of enlightenment. The present work aims to analyze the meaning of this appeal to prudence, by Mendelssohn, as a symbol of an Enlightenment that, in its radical commitment to humanity, proposes a sharp inquiry into the “situationality” of reason and its emancipatory power, in the complex interaction between theory and practice.