Notes to Pages 63—65 439
Malter, "Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Ein biographischer Abriß," pp. 109-124.
In fact, in none of the documents of the university is Kant ever listed in one of
the three higher schools (theology, law, and medicine). See Hagen, Altpreussische
Monatsschrift 48, pp. 533^ All of this is perhaps a red herring. Until 1771 the stu¬
dents did not always have to declare what they intended to study (though beginning
in the 1730s they were sometimes asked). But this is irrelevant; since philosophy
was a preparatory course of study that everyone had to take before going on to the
higher faculties, it was rarely noted as a subject. Even if Kant had declared theology
as his subject, he would have taken philosophy courses. See Erler, Die Matrikel,
pp. xc f.
- Reicke, Kantiana, pp. 48—51; Maker, Kant in Rede und Gespräch, p. 18.
- He matriculated February 5, 1746.
13. For a brief account of student life in eighteenth-century German universities, see
Henri Brunschwig, Enlightenment and Romanticism in Eighteenth-Century Prussia, tr.
Frank Jellinek (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975), pp. 77-81. Later in
the century the authorities found it necessary to curb "brawls, debauch, slovenly
dress, bathing and swimming at places not authorized by the police, unlawful en¬
try, invasions of private gatherings, especially weddings, organized rowdyism at
examinations, carrying weapons, speeding on horseback or by carriage, excesses
in musketry, tobacco, fireworks, the entertainments and dinners demanded of new¬
comers, games of chance, etc." (p. 80).
14. Reicke, Kantiana, p. 49; Maker, Kant in Rede und Gespräch, p. 19. He spoke highly
of Montaigne in his lectures as well. See Ak 25.1 (Anthropology Collins), p. 87:
"One may take extracts from foreign books, but they must be short. There are
not many such passages. In Montaigne we find many naive thoughts; he wrote with
great leisure, for as a Seigneur he did not exert himself, and no one should blame
him. He wrote to please himself (um sich wohl zu befinden).'''' Erasmus, by contrast,
was not often mentioned in his lectures.
- Schulz had been accused in 1740 of taking away playing cards from poor people.
See Hinrichs, Preußentum und Pietismus, p. 293.
- Ak 30 (Mrongovius), p. 98. Kant was also aware that playing can become a passion
that eradicates all other inclinations. For him, its main interest lay in the constant
alternation between the pleasure of winning and the pain of losing.
17. See Charles E. McClelland, State, Society, and University in Germany, ijoo-1914
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp. 27f
18. Vorländer, Immanuel Kant, I, p. 49. Vorländer claimed that in 1744 there were 591
theologians, 428 law students, and 13 medical students. His source seems to
be either Pisanski or the document on which Pisanski bases his claim, for the
numbers are identical. See Georg Christoph Pisanski, Entwurf einerpreussischen
Literärgeschichte in vier Büchern, ed. Rudolf Philippi (Königsberg, 1886), p. 472n.
Stuckenberg, Kant, p. 453, disputes this, claiming that these numbers include the
students of both the summer and winter semesters, counting many of them twice.
I am not sure Stuckenberg is correct. In any case, Erler, Die Matrikel, makes clear
in his introduction how difficult it is to count those whom we would today call
"students." Many of those inscribed were not attending lectures or recitations,
but were connected to the university by trade or profession; and many who were
