Idealistically, maybe you could narrow it down to a few greats. Some just Kant.

One could be fairly certain that Ken had some idea in advance what Mr. Ibsen, the History teacher, would reply before the setup. Mr. Ibsen has appeared a few times before reminds me of a Philosphy professor from college, not that he was designed that way. And if I found a picture of him (from that time period) and compared it, they'd probably look nothing alike, but somehow they're linked in my head.