132 Kant: A Biographyuseless than the common laborer if I did not believe that this view could give worth to
all others to establish the rights of man.1 S2
These "Remarks" were written almost immediately after the publication
of the Observations. They show that Kant was impressed by Rousseau — so
much so that he felt he had to "read Rousseau so long until the beauty of
expression no longer interferes; and only then can I rationally examine
him."^153 Rousseau exhibited such an "uncommon acuity of mind, such a
noble turn of genius, and such a sensitive soul" that there was perhaps never
a writer comparable to him. This positive impression is, however, almost
immediately followed by "alienation about peculiar and contradictory opin¬
ions, opposed to what is generally viable."^154
Accordingly, Kant soon became critical of Rousseau. Though he followed
for a time Rousseau's method, and though Rousseau's Emile influenced
him in the choice of philosophical topics during the second half of the six¬
ties, he was never a slavish follower of Rousseau. Kant's "Remarks" show
how Kant thought that Rousseau's method was important for the doctrine
of virtue and how he thought Rousseau could help to improve the ancients.
Still, Rousseau was important to Kant during the early sixties for philo¬
sophical and personal reasons. Green and Kant must have talked about
Rousseau quite frequently. Rousseau had an effect on the character Kant
was beginning to form. Rousseau "set him right." Perhaps it is not an
exaggeration to speak of a "Socratic turn" in Kant that took place during
this period. Yet his advertisement of his lectures on ethics in 1765 does
not even mention Rousseau.1SS Rousseau may have been the first who
"discovered" under the variety of human appearances "the deeply hidden
nature of humanity and the hidden law whose observance may justify des¬
tiny," but Kant did not think that Rousseau described this hidden nature
correctly.^156 Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, and Hume were better guides in this
regard — or so Kant thought in 1765.
Herder's most extensive and most careful notes were taken in Kant's
metaphysics lectures. They give a very good indication of what Kant thought
during the period: "Crusius's principle" - whatever is must be somewhere
and at some time — is wretched and unproven.^1 '^7 Metaphysics should be
not only thorough, but also beautiful.^158 Parts of the lecture notes are very
direct. Thus "Wolff errs" and "Crusius errs," and "Baumeister [is] the
wretched interpreter of Wolff":^159 perhaps "Malebranche's philosophy is
better than that of Leibniz";^160 but it is space which "must be the first actus
of the divine all-presence of God, through which the things come into con-