Kantian typo

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 146146

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ellecain" <ellecain at y...> 
wrote:

<snip>
 
> The only reason I brought up Kant was because of a comment on HPfGU
> Fantastic Posts that goes "Kant is arguably the Snapiest 
> philosopher", one that I could never comprehend. Can anyone accept 
> my challenge to prove to me that Snape's thinking goes along the 
> lines of Kantian philosophy? <eg>

I speak fluent typo. :)

To answer the challenge--I can't.  I suspect it's a lonely artifact 
(being as it's from the needs-to-be-updated Fantastic Posts) of 
sunnier, more optimistic days of theorizing about Snape.  It was a 
lot easier, immediately following the shocking revelations of the end 
of GoF (which really have lost most of their kicker by now, haven't 
they?) to argue for Snape as the Believer In What Is Right Regardless 
of Personal Cost Or Inclinations.  The evidence for this was his 
turning away from the DEs, without any other information to 
complicate it.

I'd say that it done be complicated by now, and furthermore, Snape 
has been revealed as a character driven by personal issues 
(regardless of whether Rowling ultimately puts a broadly-phrased 
white or black hat on them) to a degree that Kant doesn't apply well 
any more.  Snape is pretty emotional, and Kant gives that part of 
life pretty short shrift (although I'm giving him short shrift here 
too).

The evidence of Snape's selective application of some rules and 
favoritism is enough, IMO, to boot him solidly out of the Kantian 
camp.  I can't think of a good Kantian in the series, as even 
McGonagall has her lapses, but she'd come closer, I suspect.

It's an interesting mirror to play with in the series (I remember, 
faintly, having posted about it way back whenever in the archives), 
but I've come to the reluctant conclusion that it's not what Rowling 
is playing with herself, and this limits some of its application.  
YMMV.

-Nora begins, slowly, to remember the German language