When filmmakers (or in this case - animated television show creators) want to show that a character is super smart, the go-to prop must be a copy of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason! A few weeks ago I posted a video of Lorelei Ambrosia, a villain from the film Superman III, reading Kant's book. In that scene, Lorelei does not read from the book's text, but she does give a glossy summary of transcendental categories that may or may not make sense depending on how you look at it. In the above scene, Doug's friend Skeeter does a pretty good job of explaining Kant's mission to solve the problem of what constitutes a universal foundation for all knowledge!
Here is the transcript* of Doug and Skeeter's conversation on The Critique of Pure Reason:
Doug: [Reading the book's title] Critique of Pure Reason? What's this?
Skeeter: [Tying his shoes] Oh. Just some book. It's pretty cool.
Doug: [Trying to pronounce the word] The possibility of apodic-, apodic-?
Skeeter: [stressing the pronunciation] Apodicitic!
Doug: Apodictic principles? What's that?
Skeeter: Well. Kant is using the word oddly here because he wants to prove an apriori body of synthetic knowledge is exhibited in the general doctrine of motion .... [soundtrack goes whacky and spoken voice is difficult to discern] .... apriori knowledge can't be reached by empirical processes but apriori [unintelligible] must use strict universality or apodictic certainty ....
[Doug's eyes go into a psychedelic headspin and mathematical equations circle him in vertigo like fashion. We all see a screenshot of Skeeter's bookshelf which also includes Isaac Newton's book The Principia Mathematica. Skeeter's head balloons to suggest that he has a ton of knowledge].
[Back to reality] Doug? Doug? Are you OK, man?
Doug: Uh. Yeah. I think I better go.
Skeeter: OK. See ya!
*I had trouble transcribing Skeeter's analysis of Kant but I think I got most of it. The soundtrack becomes muddled between the 35 and 53 seconds mark.
