Immanuel Kant remarked that the Jews lived in a culture that encouraged

Immanuel Kant remarked that the Jews lived in a culture that encouraged

Immanuel Kant remarked that the Jews lived in a culture that encouraged selfishness and dishonesty in business dealings. More recently it is generally accepted that gypsies produce a culture that centers on cheating gullible non gypsies into spending money on fortune telling while also engaging in other forms of cheating or theft. The latter assertion is generally regarded by both academics and the public as truthful but the claim made by Kant is regarded as anti-semitism. When we attribute anti-semitism to Kant is that because we know a priori that his remarks were in egregious error over facts or is it because the historical record shows that Jews were not a part of a culture of a kind that Kant imagines that culture to be? If he was wrong then could he be simply misinformed? Why should we believe what is said by supposedly reputable sources about gypsies if people have been so wrong about the Jews or conversely why should we be disposed to doubt Kant's claim since he may be simply conveying what was considered to be fact just as we do no with gypsies.

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