Bartolomé de Las Casas.. Immanuel Kant, “What Is Enlightenment?” Response Essay

This discipline is an account of the discovery of the Americas by Spanish Christians. It tells of the devastation of the many islands around Hispaniola and the mainland of what is now North America for forty-nine years. On the Spaniards arrival the Natives did no harm to them and believed them to be descended from the heavens. That was until the Spanish began to murder and torment them due to their rapaciousness for what the Natives had. The choices of converting to the Christian religion or dying were the Natives only options and anyone showing any sign of resistance were killed.An estimated 12 million Native American souls were lost during those forty-nine years due to the devastation. The motives behind the Spanishs taking over of the land was supposed to be religious but the killings, rage and theft showed no sign of religion at all. It was all about greed and the Native Americans were treated extremely unfairly. The Spaniards greed kept them from treating the Natives as anyt hing more than beasts. It also makes me wonder how they would have treated the Chinese or Asians, since that is what they were originally looking for on their voyage west.Reading 18-5 Immanuel Kant, What Is Enlightenment? This reading is an essay by Immanuel Kant going into detail about the lack of learning, explain what enlightenment is and what the public needs in order to be enlightened. Kant explains what dependency is and how it is severe for someone to work themselves out of it and that enlightenment is a persons emergence from their own dependency. He says that the public can only achieve enlightenment slowly.Freedom is required for enlightenment according to Kant, the freedom to use our own reason on issues. I think that this essay has a powerful message. Kant explains how master(prenominal) it is for individuals to be independent and free in order for the public as a whole to be enlightened. It would seem that these things argon common sense to people, because they ratt ling are simple and things that we here every day but I have never really thought of it the way Kant explains it. Kants words are sort of a guide to what people should strive for in life.