Kant on the Deceitful Art of Rhetoric.

This article examines Immanuel Kant’s critique of bad rhetoric, focusing on its deceitful nature as central to its moral and aesthetic evaluation. It argues that, for Kant, bad rhetoric deceives by falsely promising to engage the understanding purposively while instead manipulating the audience through an entertaining play of imagination, thus providing less than it promises. This form of deception aligns with Kant’s technical definition of deception as a disagreement between semblance and cognition of truth, involving an intentional lying promise that treats others merely as means and violates the moral law. The article further distinguishes bad rhetoric’s deception from artificial sense-deception by emphasizing the foundational role of the orator’s lying promise. Finally, it suggests that Kant’s aesthetic response to bad rhetoric is negative, producing a feeling of disapproval or aversion due to its deceitfulness, thereby excluding it from the domain of beauty.