Kant’s joke, according to Nietzsche
“Kant’s joke. — Kant wanted to prove, in a way that would dumbfound the whole world, that the whole world was right: that was the secret joke of this soul. He wrote against the scholars in favor of popular prejudice, but for scholars and not for the people” (from The Gay Science, section 193).
The popular prejudices Nietzsche means are beliefs in God, freedom of the will, and the immortality of the soul, all of which Kant defends.
(Nietzsche’s title reminds me of an anecdote told by my colleague in political science, Jules Gleicher, who says that when he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago he learned the hard way that The Gay Science was not a good choice of reading material while riding public transportation.)
Tags: Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant, Nietzsche's The Gay Science, University of Chicago
