The Cunning of Reason

The cunning of reason is the strategy by which ends realize themselves without the agent expending itself. The end uses the means: it lets objects act according to their own laws (mechanism, chemism) and thereby achieves its end. Example: the human being uses the hammer (means) according to its mechanical laws, instead of striking with the bare hand. Reason is "cunning" because it does not fight directly but *uses* the objects' own inherent logic. This is not a theodicy but a *structural description*: the good craftsman comes to know his material. The *philosophy-of-history* transposition (Napoleon unintentionally realizes the principles of the Revolution) must be distinguished from this --- it can turn into an apologetic figure when it suggests that reason asserts itself cosmically. We argue in Ch. 16.9 against the reading that makes human beings into a "plaything."