Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them September 27, 1958 Issue

Immanuel Kant, 1724–1804

[Mentioned in Miscellaneous Writings, p. 361; No and Yes, p. 22; and Miscellany, p. 349]

Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who probably never traveled more than forty miles away from Königsberg, his birthplace, greatly influenced the thought of his day. He was probably the first thinker in Germany who demanded as fundamental rights equality, liberty, and security of property.

Kant's parents were poor; so when his father died, Kant had to abandon his university courses. Nine years later he returned, obtained his doctor's degree, and qualified as a lecturer. His lectures, rich in illustrations, for he read widely in French, English, and German, attracted more and more young men, and his writings more and more readers. At first he lectured mainly on physics, but gradually he included ethics, logic, and metaphysics.

Not until 1770 was Kant a professor, being then given the chair of logic and metaphysics at the university. For the first time he knew financial ease. But he still lived on such a rigid schedule that the people of Königsberg could set their watches when at four o'clock he stepped forth for his solitary walk up and down the lime-lined avenue which in honor of him is called the Philosopher's Walk. He even divided conversation at lunch into narration, discussion, and jest.

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