CATEGORICALLY IMPERATIVE

German Chancellor to Putin: Keep 18th Century Philosopher’s Name Out of Your Mouth

Olaf Scholz says the Russian president doesn’t have the “slightest right” to cite Imannuel Kant.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants Russian leader Vladimir Putin to stop “appropriating” 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant. In comments made this week marking the philosopher’s 300th birthday at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Scholz declared that “Putin doesn’t have the slightest right to invoke Kant,” according to Zeit. He said everything Putin stands for—“aggressive war, breach of international law and despotism”—is at odds with Kant’s metaphysics. “Nevertheless, Putin’s regime remains committed to appropriating Kant and his work at almost any cost,” he said. Kant, born into a Prussian-German family in 1724, hailed from Königsberg, which is now the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Putin has routinely cited Kant over the years, even tweaking the philosopher’s ideas earlier this year to justify the Kremlin’s geopolitical crusades. Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov also staked a claim to Kant this week, describing the great thinker as “our Russian trophy” at an event on Monday and calling for a “large-scale revision” of Kant’s ideas so they can be used in today’s world.