334 Kant: A Biography
from Kant's point of view—suddenly broke off their relationship altogether.
If this does not reflect well on Kraus, it does not reflect well on Kant ei¬
ther. He was insensitive, wrapped up in his own concerns, and unable to
understand the person who was to be his friend. This is why Metzger
called Kant an egoist.
Still, the two never quarreled in public, and Kraus visited Kant again
during Kant's last year of life. The two also arranged it so that they had
adjacent places at dinner parties to which both were invited. Otherwise,
they kept their distance. Kraus never became the kind of friend that Green
had been. While Kant had many acquaintances with whom he was on
friendly terms, there was no longer anyone with whom he could share his
thoughts and whom he could ask for completely disinterested advice. Kant
now was alone in a way in which he had never been before.
In Society (Tuesday, December 16, 1788):
"Even Natural Religion Has Its Dogmatism"Though Kant now had his own household, and though he regularly in¬
vited his friends for dinner, this did not mean that he no longer went out.
As we have seen, on Sundays he usually ate at the house of Motherby. As
Borowski reports, "he was sought at the table of the upper class as well as
at the happy meals of his friends, and he never declined an invitation by
anyone at noon time — invitations for the evening he always rejected .. ,"^20
This must have been difficult for him at times, as he loved to go out - and
apparently not only for pure enjoyment but also for moral reasons:
Although a banquet is a formal invitation to excess in both food and drink, there is still
something in it that aims at a moral end, beyond mere physical well-being; it brings a
number of people together for a long time to converse with one another.
Yet a banquet remains a "temptation to something immoral," and the ques¬
tion is: "How far does one's moral authorization to accept these invitations
to intemperance extend?"^21
Kant had a standing invitation at the palace of the Keyserlingks, and that
is where he usually could be found on Tuesday afternoon.^22 Kant was one
of twelve scholars and "other interesting people" who could always attend
dinner there.^23 He impressed other guests not only by "his extra-ordinary
knowledge... which extended to the most disparate matters," but also by
his "beautiful and witty conversation."^24