Immanuel Kant

Josh Lyman quotes Immanuel Kant's line on duty—'Sublime and mighty name, that embraces nothing charming or insinuating but requires submission'—to attack Teddy Tomba's seminars for reducing profound thinkers to slogans. Kant embodies the intellectual depth Josh demands from leaders facing crises like embassies in Haiti or nuclear threats. Every year, a million freshmen read this sentence, yet Tomba flattens it into fortune-cookie wisdom. Josh invokes Kant to champion rigorous philosophy over superficial politics, insisting presidents reach for full complexity, not McNuggets.