»Sapere aude!«

Beginning with a close look at the use of the quote »sapere aude« in Melanchthon und Kant, this essay explores two manifestations of Enlightenment against the background of their (pre-)conditions. Firstly, it takes a closer look at the humanistic and pre-reformatory program as seen in Melanchthon, who in his Loci Communes (1521) uses his acquaintance with Luther's reformatory insight for the first time in dogmatic theology. Sub sequently the essay reflects Kant's post-reformatory answer to the question: what is Enlightenment? In doing so it shows that specific conditions of Enlightenment prove to be a transformed appropriation of Christian-reformatory insights. Proximity and difference accumulate in the matter of either having or not having the courage to use one's own reason.