Silent Years 217Though he received a raise in salary to compensate him for the loss of the
100 Thalers income from his supervisory activity, this was not the outcome
he wanted. Kant, who had selected the Jew Herz as his respondent in the
defense of his Magister thesis, had little sympathy for Kypke. Count Key-
serlingk, Kant's friend and protector, played a decisive role in bringing this
affair to its proper end.
During the seventies two of his younger colleagues seem to have been
especially important to Kant, namely, Johann Gottlieb Kreutzfeld (1745-
1784) and Karl Daniel Reusch (1735—1806). Lindner, professor of poetry,
died in March of 1776. The person chosen to replace him was Kreutzfeld,
also a good friend of Kraus and Hamann. In fact, the three had already
studied English together for a long time, and Hamann claimed that he had
taught Kreutzfeld the rudiments ofthat language.^109 Kreutzfeld also was
a student of Kant. In his defense of his Inaugural Dissertation, "Concern¬
ing Sensory Illusion and Poetic Function," Kraus was the respondent, while
Kant gave a commentary on the thesis.^110 Kant maintained a somewhat
close relationship with this student of his as well. Whether this relationship
with Kreutzfeld was closer than that with Reusch, professor of physics
from 1772, singled out by von Zedlitz, together with Kant, as a teacher to
be emulated, is not clear. In any case, Reusch and Kant discussed not just
Fahrenheit's thermometer and lightning rods, but also many other ques¬
tions. When Reusch met Kant on one of his regular walks, he often accom¬
panied him.
After 1780, it was Kraus who was his most important colleague. For in
June of 1780 Christiani, who was a full professor of moral philosophy al¬
ready during Kant's years as a student, died unexpectedly. Kant wrote
almost immediately to von Zedlitz to recommend Kraus for the position.
At the same time, he asked Hamann to write to Kraus in Göttingen in
order to prepare him.^111 Just two months later, Hamann was writing to
Herder, fully convinced that Kraus would get the position.^112 Kraus "left
Göttingen as a designated {berufener) professor. On the way home to Königs¬
berg that fall, he obtained the title of Magister at the University of Halle.
On January 4, 1781 he arrived in Königsberg "as professor of moral and
political philosophy."^113 This was highly significant not just for Kraus, who
could thank Kant for his professorship, but also for Kant, who had suc¬
ceeded in having the second most important position in philosophy occu¬
pied by his friend and one of his best students.^114 We may be sure that his
support for Kraus was not just dictated by personal but also by political con¬
siderations. Just as the Pietists had earlier dominated the way philosophy