The Elegant Magister 105traction and repulsion, rotation resulted, and numerous planetary systems
slowly formed. The process took millions of years. It did not happen at an
instance, as many of the creationists held. Perhaps more importantly, Kant
held that it would continue forever. The universe is infinite in space and
time. If this was not enough to raise eyebrows in Königsberg, Kant went
on to speculate that we are not the only inhabitants of this universe but
that there is intelligent life on other planets. Though Kant did not raise
the question whether Christ died for extraterrestrials as well, or whether
perhaps he had to die on other planets again, it would have been a ques¬
tion uppermost in the minds of most of his readers in Königsberg. When
Kant imagined that it might be possible that our soul continued to live on
one of these other planets, he stepped over the line of theological propriety.
There was also a long section called "On Creation in the Entire Extent of
Its Infinity in Both Space and Time," in which Kant argued that though
the world had a beginning, it did not have an end. In this context he also
fiercely contested some of the theories of another student of Knutzen —
Weitenkampf - who, like his teacher, had argued against the infinity of
the world.
More important than these theological musings is the fact that Kant did
not use any theological principles to explain nature. Teleological consid¬
erations based on God's plans or on the principle of sufficient reason had
no place in physics for him. Kant's mechanistic explanation of the world
dispensed with them. All that he needed was matter and force. "Give me
matter, and I will show how the world arose."
The doctrine Kant developed in the General History was very similar
to a theory put forward in 1796 by Laplace. Accordingly, it was known
and highly esteemed during the nineteenth century as the "Kant-Laplace
Theory."^19 However, it does not seem to have had much of an impact dur¬
ing Kant's own life. Partly as a result of the bankruptcy of his publisher,
most of the copies of Kant's book were destroyed [eingestampft), and the
rest were distributed only during the sixties, without causing much of a
stir. So, Kant's second attempt at becoming a popular writer known be¬
yond the confines of Königsberg had also failed. It is, even doubtful
whether Frederick II, to whom the volume was dedicated, ever saw the work.
As a Magister and Privatdozent or lecturer, Kant was now allowed to teach
university courses.^20 He received no salary from the university, having to
make a living from the fees he could collect from the students who attended
his lectures. How much money he had and how well he lived, would depend