“You Kant Say That!” Philosophical Debate Leads to Shooting

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An argument over the writings of the philosopher Immanuel Kant descended into violence at a late-night bar in southern Russia, leading to a man being shot several times, reported the Independent.

The dispute occurred at an outdoor stall in the city of Rostov-on-Don, where two men fell into conversation while lining up for beer, reported The Times. A statement on the local police service website said they started “arguing about the works and merits of Immanuel Kant”. It added: “They decided to work out which of them was a bigger fan of the said philosopher.”

The row ended with one of the men producing an air gun and firing several rubber bullets at his opponent, reported the Independent. Police did not identify the men but said that the 26-year-old gunman had been detained after fleeing the scene, while the 28-year-old victim was in hospital with non-life threatening wounds, said the Independent.

Kant was a Prussian philosopher who was born in 1724 and never left his hometown of Königsberg, modern-day Kalingrad. He is widely recognized as having revolutionized Western philosophy by examining how the mind constructs our knowledge of the natural world and probing the limits of our empirical understanding of that world, said The Times.

It is not known which of Kant’s many theories was being debated.

[Independent]
[The Times]