Kant: A Biographyof the philosophical faculty - and perhaps especially by Knutzen. Or was
there perhaps — at least in his eyes — positive disregard and discrimination
against him? Was he treated in the way he thought he deserved? His planned
dissertation may in fact have been dismissed by those who would have had
to approve it, or he may never have planned to submit the work as a dis¬
sertation because he felt it would be rejected.
There is evidence that Kant was not as well appreciated as Borowski
would have us believe. Borowski claimed that "Knutzen, a wise judge of
heads, found in Kant excellent talents, encouraged him in private conver¬
sations and later lent him Newton, and, since Kant liked it, anything else
he wanted from his rich library."^123 It is of significance that he made these
claims in passages that Kant himself did not see, and that in the passages
that Kant did see, he said only that Kant attended Knutzen's classes, and
that he was the teacher whom Kant liked most.^124 This may well be true.
It may also be true that Knutzen lent him Newton - something that was
not unusual at a time when there was no university library.
It is obvious from the record that Knutzen did not regard Kant as one
of his best students. Kant was not even mentioned by Knutzen's early
biographers as one of his students. On the other hand, there is evidence
that one of his favorite students was Friedrich Johann Buck (1722—1786).
Not much older than Kant, Buck held at least on one occasion repetitoria
(review sessions) for Knutzen. Buck was also the one who continued
Knutzen's lectures after his death in 1751, and he continued Knutzen's
scientific correspondence. Clearly, Knutzen considered Buck to be much
more important than Kant. Another student Knutzen valued more than
Kant was Johann Friedrich Weitenkampf (1726-1758). He had entered the
university two years after Kant, but Knutzen, the "wise judge of heads,"
regarded him so highly that he had him read at the bicentenniary of the
University of Königsberg — significantly also in 1744 — a speech on how
useful academies are for the welfare of nations. Knutzen also saw to it that
this speech was published. Kant, perhaps understandably, did not like
Weitenkampf. In his General Natural History, he attacked Weitenkampf in
a pointed fashion, claiming that Weitenkampf 's arguments against the in¬
finity of the world - which also expressed one of Knutzen's main con¬
cerns — prove only that he is one of those who do not know enough about
metaphysics.^125 Indirectly, Kant dismissed Knutzen as well.
How little Knutzen thought of Kant is shown also by the fact that Kant's
name is not to be found among the many students mentioned as outstand¬
ing in his correspondence with Euler.^126 Thus Borowski's report may well