Kant's Joke
I was getting worried that my philosophical edge was getting a bit dull, so I picked Nietzsche's The Gay Science off the book shelf and started to peruse through it. As I thumbed through book 3, I came across one of my favorite sections, Kant's Joke.
193.
Kant wanted to prove, in a way that would dumbfound the common man, that the common man was right; that was the secret joke of this soul. He wrote against the scholars in support of popular prejudice, but for the scholars and not for the people.
I was all like, "Oh yeah, this is a good one. Though it's even better when Joshua Greene rips into Kant's defense of moral absolutism in his recent paper, The Secret Joke of Kant's Soul!"
And then I realized that I hadn't slipped as much as I had thought.
193.
Kant wanted to prove, in a way that would dumbfound the common man, that the common man was right; that was the secret joke of this soul. He wrote against the scholars in support of popular prejudice, but for the scholars and not for the people.
I was all like, "Oh yeah, this is a good one. Though it's even better when Joshua Greene rips into Kant's defense of moral absolutism in his recent paper, The Secret Joke of Kant's Soul!"
And then I realized that I hadn't slipped as much as I had thought.