428 Notes to Pages 26—29
literature on the topic that disputes the correctness of Kant's belief. For a recent
article, see Hans and Gertrud Mortensen, "Kants väterliche Ahnen und ihre Um¬
welt," Jahrbuch der Albertus-Universität Königsberg 3 (1953), pp. 25-57. See also
Malter, "Immanuel Kant (1724—1804). Ein biographischer Abriß," pp. 109—124.- She was the daughter of Anna Felgenhauer, nee Mülke or Wülke. Her father died
early, and the mother remarried one Jakob Gause. See Gustav Springer (alias
G. Karl), Kant und Alt-Königsberg (Königsberg, 1924). - Vorländer does not give the name of Kant's great-grandmother. For this see
Gustav Springer (alias G. Karl), Kant und Alt-Königsberg, pp. 8f. - Vorländer, Immanuel Kant, I, p. 21, for comparison.
- Vorländer, Immanuel Kant, I, p. 11.
- This institution has a history that reaches back far into the Middle Ages and even
to antiquity. It was essentially a feudal institution. See, for instance, Rudolf Sta-
delmann and Wolfram Fischer, Die Bildungswelt des deutschen Handwerks (Berlin:
Duncker & Humblodt, 1955), pp. 66-93. - Haden (Cassirer, Kant's Life, p. 12) translates Cassirer's "Handwerkerhaus" as
"workingman's house." Yet "Handwerker" does not mean "working man." Indeed,
there was a world of difference between an independent member of a guild and a
working man who hired out his labor to others. - Quoted from Ulrich Im Hof, The Enlightenment: An Historical Introduction (Ox¬
ford: Blackwell, 1997), pp. 5gf. Im Hofs discussion of "The Craftsmen" (pp. 58-
- is most interesting in this context, though it concentrates more on the latter
third of the eighteenth century. Also of interest is Klaus Epstein, The Genesis of
German Conservatism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966), pp. 213-219.
Though Epstein concentrates on "The Guild Controversy" of 1774-1776, caused
by the abolishment and restoration of the guilds in France, his discussion sheds
light on the status of the guilds. On p. 219 he quotes Christian Wilhelm Dohm,
who romanticized the guilds in 1781 as follows: "The life of a skilled artisan crafts¬
man is perhaps the most happy one possible in our civil society. His soul is troubled
by neither nagging fear nor delusive hopes concerning the future.... His strenu¬
ous labor keeps him healthy, while its uniformity brings his spirit the satisfaction
of quiet tranquillity.... He is honest and just in his charges because this is dic¬
tated by the honor of his craft," etc., etc.
- The address was Vordere Vorstadt 22, which later became Vordere Vorstadt 21/22.
Vorländer got this wrong. He thought Kant was born in the house at Vordere Vorstadt
195, at the corner of the Sattlergasse, which was really the residence of the grand¬
parents. See Springer, Kant und Alt-Königsberg, pp. 8f. - According to Springer, who still had access to relevant records, he paid 38 Thalers
and 34 Thalers in taxes during the earlier years; Springer, Kant und Alt-Königsberg,
p. 11. This was not an insignificant sum. Kant later charged students 4 Thalers per
lecture. - This, by itself, does not prove that his business was not going well, as Vorländer
suggested. The number of apprentices and journeymen a master tradesman could
employ was strictly limited in the eighteenth century. - See Jachmann, Kant, p. 134.