no Kant: A Biographydeficient (mißlich)."^ It is therefore likely that Kant was not in a position
to accumulate much money during this period, and that he was very de¬
pendent on a steady income made by lecturing.^44
In 1756, Knutzen's professorship of logic and metaphysics was to be
filled again. Kant applied with a letter to the king, saying that philosophy
was "the most important field of his efforts," and that he never had lost
any opportunity to teach logic and metaphysics.^45 He did not obtain the
position. Indeed, it appears that his letter never reached Berlin, but was
simply filed.^46 Kant continued to try to better his situation by obtaining a
position at a local school, the Kneiphöfische, but "he did not pass."^47 The
committee appointed instead one Wilhelm Benjamin Kahnert. This appears
to have been in 1757, after Kant had already taught for four semesters at
the university.^48 The position for which Kant applied had become vacant
(on October 11, 1757) as a result of the death of Andreas Wasianski, the
father of one of Kant's biographers. It was not unusual for a private lec¬
turer at the university to teach also at a local high school until he obtained
a professorship at the university. Kahnert had already taught two years
at the Löbenicht school before applying for the new position. He also was
much better at obeying the rules of Pietistic discourse than Kant ever was.
It is difficult to imagine that Kant could ever have written the following,
which is characteristic of Kahnert (and other Pietists):
I will recognize with David my misdeeds, for His grace is great, and I will be ashamed
with David, and will consider myself unworthy, and with the poor sinner (Zöllner), I
will direct my eyes towards heaven, and I will beat my sinful breast in sorry (wehmütigen)
motions of remorse and say: Oh God, forgive this poor sinner during this holy time of
advent! and I will return with the lost son and say: "Father, I have sinned.. ,"^49
Perhaps it was very predictable that Kant would "fail," given his lack of pre¬
vious experience and proper devotion. Indeed, it may have been precisely
because he "was opposed to Pietism" that he did not get the position he
had applied for.
His life was not all work or bad luck, of course. Kant had also good friends.
Among these was Johann Gotthelf Lindner (1729—1776), who during this
period was not in Königsberg. Michael Freytag (1725—1790), Georg David
Kypke (1723-1779), and Johann Daniel Funk (1721-1764), who were also
friends of Lindner, played perhaps a greater role in his daily life then.^50
Hamann, who himself was a close friend of Lindner, and who knew the
others well, was not as close to Kant, but he belonged to the same circle
of acquaintances. Kant and Freytag had known each other from the days