Dialectic#
Summary#
Nietzsche critiques philosophers who present their arguments as products of “cold, pure, divinely indifferent Dialectic,” when in reality they are defending prejudices and heart’s desires with arguments sought out after the fact. He contrasts this pose of dispassionate reasoning with the honesty of mystics who at least admit to “inspiration,” and uses Kant’s dialectic byways leading to the Categorical Imperative as an example of philosophical sleight-of-hand masquerading as pure reason.