Bulgakovʼs The Master and Margarita and the Illusions of Kantʼs Speculative Reason

Philosophical concepts are traditionally used to explain and analyse literary texts. This article tries to investigate the opposite dependency. Namely, how literary texts and characters could illustrate certain philosophical concepts while re-interpreting, extending and changing their original meaning. In Kantʼs context speculative (theoretical) rationality operates within strict limits: the visible tangible nature. Speculative reason may dream of overstepping the borders of nature and reaching for the invisible realm of ideas. However, for Kant, such tendencies lead to illusions and distortion of the proper working of human rationality. The extremes of speculative reason, i.e. this reasonʼs hubris, and its dreams, which are unlikely to be realized, have their illustration in the strange supernatural reality described in Bulgakovʼs novel. This article interprets Satanʼs actions in Moscow as a direct depiction of what Kant considered to be impossible: the unity of sensible nature and ideas under the rule of speculative reason.