“Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own reason without the guidance of another.”

Kant writes the essay as a reply to a question about the limits of enlightenment, and he is careful to say that the immaturity is self-inflicted rather than imposed. The consequence he draws is that the reader has to judge for himself, including the judgement of Kant.