Publish at March 25 2021 Updated October 30 2025
Sapere aude. Dare to think for yourself. This motto is over 2,000 years old, and has been adopted by many philosophers and educators. It's undoubtedly the first law of any training program. Dare to think, confront ideas, tackle complex content. Dare not to let others think for you.
Let's look at the history of this formula in a few stages. It originated in an epistle by Horace published twenty years before our era. The Latin locution took a political and autonomous turn with Pierre Gassendi, a 17th-century astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and theologian. Above all, he was a courageous opponent of scholastic thought, based on the authority of Aristotle and tradition.
But it was Immanuel Kant who popularized the expression, making it the "motto of the Enlightenment" in 1784. The words are harsh. Kant considers that many people deliberately place themselves under the tutelage of others, whom they consider more expert, more learned, and thus renounce their own reason. This tutelage, sometimes translated as "minority", is freely consented to. It runs counter to the spirit of the Enlightenment.
The state of tutelage is the inability to use one's understanding without the guidance of another. We are ourselves responsible for this state of guardianship when the cause lies not in an insufficiency of understanding, but in an insufficiency of the resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. Sapere aude! Have the courage to use your own understanding! That's the motto of the Enlightenment.
Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so many men [...] willingly remain [...] in a state of guardianship all their lives; and why it is so easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians.
Writers such as Gisèle Berkman regularly lament the fact that thinking is still considered an unnecessary expense. In a society where time is always at a premium, giving oneself space for reflection is a dubious luxury!
Let's walk through the ages again. We find this motto at Staffordshire University, founded in 1914 in Great Britain. These are uncertain times," says Douglas Burnham, one of those in charge. We need to train students to form themselves and adapt their fields of knowledge and skills to changing contexts.
That would be a fitting conclusion to this chronology. But let's end with a little levity. The Merli series, broadcast in Spain for several years now, features a charismatic philosophy teacher. Since 2020, it has been the subject of a sequel entitled.... "Sapere aude". It recounts the learning journey of a student who enters university to continue his teacher's courses: love, conflict, moments of despair and exaltation, but also real moments of popularization of philosophical questions!
Some people who have all their powers of observation, reasoning or expression leave it to others to think for them. Their abandonment is in no way the result of a deficiency or incapacity. It's an intellectual laziness, a lack of effort, sometimes of courage. Gassendi and Kant are thus opposed to the argument of authority that would have us defer to the religious, the intellectuals and those with greater legitimacy.
The formula echoes Rancière's reflections in "Le maître ignorant". In it, the author shows that behind training sometimes lies dumbing-down. If the teacher is always the one who knows and transmits, he or she ends up creating dependency. He often unwittingly succeeds in making us believe that we need mediation to grasp texts deemed difficult or complex reasoning. Daring to use reason means daring to make mistakes, to be wrong, to waste time, to make misinterpretations and to confront what we learn with our own context. It takes audacity!
Does this mean we're on our own, thinking for ourselves? In the Age of Enlightenment, many people made the mistake of deferring to the intellectual authority of others. In the 21st century, the rejection of all authority means that any Twitter subscriber can feel authorized to correct a scientist! "Dare to use your reason" doesn't mean "don't hesitate to share what's on your mind". On the contrary, it invites us to dig deeper into our reasoning, to confront it and nourish it with that of others. "One must travel to rub and file one's brains against those of others", says Montaigne.
In June 2014, at the Ludovia meetings, Christophe Batier and François Jourde explained the principle of the 4 Cs. In-depth pedagogy is based on
Critical thinking, collaboration and communication are difficult to dissociate. When asked about the paradox of thinking for oneself, but with others, François Jourde suggested a text by André Comte-Sponville, which suggests overcoming the apparent opposition.
To philosophize is to think for oneself; but no one can validly do this without first relying on the thought of others, especially the great philosophers of the past. Philosophy is not just an adventure; it's also work, which requires effort, reading and tools.
In his blog, Denis Cristol relays a video by Marie Robert. She is the author of books and podcasts that make the link between philosophy and our daily lives. She warns us against a misunderstanding.
Searching for images to illustrate the word "audacity" on a search engine brings up countless images of people leaping over heights or taking selfies in risky positions.
The motto "Sapere aude", she believes, is about a different kind of audacity. It's about daring to examine a situation, questioning habits, reflexes or traditions. It applies to our daily lives. Boldness is not the same as nerve or risk-taking. It implies a phase of reflection that is a prerequisite for action.
In reciprocity, it invites trainers and teachers to "dare to let students and trainees use their understanding". The idea is to give them time to reflect, collaborate, communicate, create and question. To turn the classroom upside down, invert it, or sometimes confront learners with raw data or original texts, without acting as intermediaries.
Illustrations: Frédéric Duriez
Resources
About Gassendi
Médiathèque de Digne-les-Bains - https://www.gassendi.fr/page_theme_philo.html
About Kant
Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? [1784], trans. from the German by J.-F. Poirier and F. Proust, GF Flammarion, 2006, p. 43-44
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/qu-est-ce-que-les-lumieres-1784-9782218991400.html
For another online translation:
Gallica - https://gallica.bnf.fr/essentiels/anthologie/lumieres
The Spanish series :
Sapere aude - trailer for the first season :
https://youtu.be/hQj3gBgLihA
Philippe CARRE - Why and how adults learn - éditions DUNOD September 2020
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/pourquoi-et-comment-les-adultes-apprennent-9782100798773.html
André COMTE-SPONVILLE, Présentations de la philosophie, Albin Michel, 2000
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/presentations-de-la-philosophie-9782226117366.html
Bénédicte ETIENNE, ""Frotter et limer sa cervelle contre celle d'aultruy"", Le français aujourd'hui, 2009/4 (n° 167), pp. 79-89. DOI : 10.3917/lfa.167.0079.
URL :
https:// www.cairn.info/revue-le-francais-aujourd-hui-2009-4-page-79.htm
Marie ROBERT - Philosophy is sexy - Podcast - Episode 1: Audacity
https://lnns.co/oVMSIXi-A3g
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