“Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another.”Immanuel Kant · Răspuns la întrebarea: Ce este iluminismul? · 1784 · AA 8:35
Immaturity is not a lack of intelligence, but intelligence left unused out of laziness.
Kant is not calling people stupid; he is describing a habit of surrender. Thinking for yourself costs effort and carries risk, so it is easier to borrow a book, a priest or a doctor's verdict and call that prudence. The dependence is chosen and maintained, which is why Kant calls it self-imposed. Consider someone who never checks anything they read online, simply because it feels easier to trust whoever sounds most certain. The capacity is intact; it simply goes unused.
Kant's idea has a less comfortable consequence: if being a minor is a choice, then responsibility is ours too. It is not the fault of whoever guided us, but ours for letting them. Think of a big decision, such as choosing a treatment or an investment. If you accept one person's advice on the spot, you have handed over the question as well. The courage Kant speaks of begins with a simple question: what am I actually relying on when I feel certain?
Why it matters It applies directly to the digital information environment, where algorithms and confident voices spare us the work of judging for ourselves. The useful question to ask is whether we actually reasoned our way to a view or merely adopted it.