Sapere aude. About the contribution of elderly people to cultural life

Abstract

Nicolaus Copernicus is shown as an ideal of senior students. He represents all the intellectual qualities that we connect with the spiritual movement of the Enlightenment. This movement has led to the unfolding of the sciences with all its good and bad consequences, to the appearance of natural rights and religious tolerance. The modern concepts of education, civil rights and the development of a critical general public are not conceivable without the ideas of the Enlightenment. But the idea of Enlightenment has shown more and more clearly two different faces during its development: One is showing the enlightenment of human beings concerning the environment they are part of and the other is showing the enlightenment about themselves. Both will be comment on. Without doubt we are in need of a new Enlightenment. It should teach us to  trust our own spiritual capabilities, to look for a critical exchange with other minded people and other cultures, to create communities of free thinking people and to create protected public spaces for critical thinking