# Immanuel Kant — Beyond Good and Evil character guide > Immanuel Kant in Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Kant, old Kant **First appearance:** 0002-i-prejudices-of-philosophers ## Snapshot The philosopher whose proud Table of Categories and synthetic judgments a priori the narrator treats as a magnificent self-deception that nonetheless ignited German philosophy. ## Who they are Kant appears as the pivotal modern figure whose confidence in discovering a new faculty in man became the engine of everything that followed. The narrator needles him for the grandiose, circumstantial style in which he announced his discovery, and for the pride that made younger thinkers race to outdo him. He matters because the book's whole project of revaluing philosophy takes shape as an argument with Kant's legacy. ## In the story ### [Beyond Good and Evil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/beyond-good-and-evil) Implicitly critiqued as part of the tradition of 'old Kant' and dogmatic philosophy that the new philosophy seeks to overcome. ### [4](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/4) Implicitly referenced via the critique of 'synthetic judgments a priori,' which are cited as prime examples of indispensable false opinions. ### [Chapter 5](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/5) Accused of 'Tartuffery' for using stiff, decent dialectic to lead readers to his 'categorical imperative,' a subtle trick of an old moralist. ### [Chapter 6](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/6) Implied as one of the 'great philosophers' whose work would be subject to this biographical, moral analysis. ### [Chapter 11](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/11) Central target of critique; his pride in the 'Table of Categories' and his answer to the problem of synthetic a priori judgments are ridiculed as a circular, sleep-inducing explanation. ### [Chapter 21](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/21) Implicitly referenced via the critique of metaphysical categories (cause, effect, necessity) and the 'half-educated' holding onto a metaphysical sense of free will. ### [III: The Religious Mood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/iii-the-religious-mood) Mentioned in the context of attempting to prove that the subject cannot be proved from itself, relating to critiques of the soul and subject-predicate grammar. ### [54](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/54) Wished to prove the subject could not be proved from itself; his thought is linked to the possibility of the soul's non-existence, akin to Vedanta philosophy. ### [V: The Natural History of Morals](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/v-the-natural-history-of-morals) Mentioned as a moralist whose system may be designed to give an impression of rigor and duty, implying a psychological motive behind his philosophy. ### [Chapter 187](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/187) His moral system is singled out as an example meant to communicate that obedience is estimable, implying a desire for others to conform to his own standard. ### [The Tyranny of Morals and the Discipline of Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/188) Referenced for his 'categorical' moral imperative, which Nietzsche contrasts with nature's conditional, non-individual imperative. ### [VI: We Scholars](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/vi-we-scholars) Implicitly referenced in the critique of philosophy reduced to a timid 'theory of knowledge.' ### [Chapter 210](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/210) Referenced as 'the great Chinaman of Königsberg' and a great critic, whose view of philosophy as criticism is implicitly rejected. ### [The Philosopher as Creator of Values](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/211) Presented as an exemplary 'philosophical worker' who fixes and formalizes existing valuations, in contrast to the true value-creating philosopher. ### [VIII: Peoples and Countries](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/viii-peoples-and-countries) Noted as having 'uprose' against Hume, positioning him as a reaction to unphilosophical English thought. ### [252](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/252) Arose against the English philosopher Hume, positioning himself in opposition to the English depreciation of philosophy. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters/kant - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/characters